It Runs In The Family
by TomboyishRandom
Summary: UPDATED . . . . Letty Cousin comes to stay...the plot thickens.
1. Chapter 1

'Letty!' I smiled as I walked up to my cousin, waiting just outside the terminal.

'James', she exclaimed, as she hugged me.

'Still on with Dom?' I winked as she picked up one of my suitcases and took me over to her car. I sucked in a large breath at the sight of it.

'Yeah. He's hanging out to meet you', Letty smiled; as she dumped my suitcase in the backseat of the car and I, following suit, with my other one.

'But he's met me before', I added, getting into the passenger seat.

'Yeah, when you were three with ditzy blonde hair and baby fat', Letty laughed as she started the car and pulled out of the airport parking.

'And the difference now is?' I asked her, looking at myself before putting on my seatbelt as she reached the freeway to head back to her place.

'You have black hair, for one, and last time I check, being like a stick isn't classed as baby fat', she answered as I flattened my stomach with my hand.

'That doesn't mean anything. Your family, you have to say that', I answered as she scoffed.

'When was the last time I was in contact with any of the family?' Letty laughed as turned off of the freeway sharply, causing me to grab the 'Oh shit' handle along the way. 'And why so worried about what Dom would think?'

'You stopped contact with everyone, because they didn't like your choice of a career', I smiled. That was the whole reason why I was here. I had done two years at a school called M.I.T.A. I studied panel beating and auto-mechanics. I came out here in the hope of getting a job, maybe with Letty maybe not, but I needed to get out of home.

'You didn't answer my question', Letty muttered as she pulled onto another street, this time a little more tame.

'What Question?' I asked, looking out the window.

'Why are you so worried about what…' Letty began as we pulled into a driveway.

'Jesse!' I shouted, getting out of the car and running at the guy that was previously bending over the hood of a car.

'James!' he exclaimed, grabbing a rag and wiping his hands as I jumped on him, wrapping my legs around his waist, not letting go. I had met Jesse when he, Mia Letty had come to visit me back home.

'How are you?' I smiled, pulling back from him as he smiled widely.

'I'm great, what are you doing here?' he asked, wiping his hands again as I hopped down and put my hands into my jean pockets.

'Get a job, new life maybe, not sure', I smiled as he nodded, 'I'm gonna head inside', I smiled as Letty gestured for me to follow her.

'Guys', Letty shouted into the house, 'Guys!'

'What?' someone shouted back as she indicated for me to follow her.

'Yo, Vince', Letty said, as I looked at a scruffy guy sitting on the couch, leaning forwards, 'this is my cousin, James'.

'Hey', he muttered, waving at me effortlessly as he continued watching a movie I had already seen.

'Uh, yeah, thanks for the almighty happy welcome', I said sarcastically as he waved at me effortlessly again.

'Vince, where's Dom and Leon?' Letty asked him.

'Dom, Leon and Mia are unpacking stuff at the café', Vince muttered as we headed back outside.

'Yo, Jesse, where are Dom and Leon?' Letty asked, walking down to her car.

'Uh, Mia's working at the Café and Dom and Leon are either at the Café or at the garage', Jesse yawned as he leant back over the car.

'Catcha later, Jesse', I shouted before jumping into the car beside Letty as she took off.

'How ya living, girl?' Letty said to Mia, as I sat down on a stool beside a guy with blonde hair and blue eyes. Letty headed into the back and leant against a doorframe.

'Hey Dom, want something to drink?' Letty asked, as the guy she was talking to lift up a can to show her he didn't need one.

'Hey, Mia', I smiled, shaking her hand over the counter.

'Hey, James', how's it hanging?' she asked.

'Well, thanks a lot, Mia, see you tomorrow', the guy said, throwing down his money on the plate he had eaten a sandwich off. He nodded at me before heading out from underneath the veranda type thing.

'Sure', Mia said before turning to talk to me.

'Yo! Try Fat-burger from now on, you can get yourself a Double Cheese with fries for 2.95, faggot', Vince had arrived, and obviously didn't enjoy the fact that this guy had been showing up everyday.

'I like the tuna here', the guy answered as he walked to his truck.

'Bullshit! No one likes the tuna here', Vince yelled, following him to the bright red truck with "Racers Edge" written on the door.

'Yeah, well, I do', he replied a moment before Vince pushed him from behind with all his weight.

He went face first into the side of the truck, face imprint on the window. He spun around connecting with the Vince's cheek using a sweet left hook. Vince came back around to ram him into the truck with a shoulder to the gut. The guy tried to push them away from the truck, trying to turn the tables as Vince continued to try and ram him. He was rammed back into the truck again, eventually before he brought his knee up into Vince's stomach and elbowed him in the back.

They wrestled each other to the ground, Vince hitting him two or three times in a row with a right hook. The guy rolled them getting back to their feet only to get rammed by Vince into one of the other cars. He got Vince onto the ground and was about to sock him with a right hook when the bald guy that Letty had talked to in the back of the Café, hauled the guy up and basically threw him up on the windshield of another car.

'Hey, man, he was in my face', He defended himself, hands held up impassively.

'**_I'm_** in your face', Dom told the guy, moving into his personal space. We all headed out, me standing next to what I assumed was Leon.

Vince chose that moment to try and strike again from behind the bald guy's back. He held Vince back though pushing him away towards the others behind him. 'Relax! Don't push it! You embarrass me!' Dom yelled, pointing a finger at him in warning. Leon pushed Vince down, but he came back, and only just viewing what had happened, I helped Leon push him back again.

'Jesse, give me his wallet', the bald guy told Jesse, who seemed to have turned up as well. That was when she noticed that the guy's billfold had fallen from his pocket during the fight. Jesse picked it up off the asphalt and handed it over to Dom who opened it up. 'Brian Earl Spilner, sounds like a serial killer name. Is that what you are?' he asked Brian.

'Nah, man', Brian denied.

'Don't come around here again!' Dom warned pointing a finger at him and thrusting his wallet back at him with his other hand.

'Hey, man, you know this is bullshit', Brian shouted, heatedly. Dom stopped pointing at him, anger clear on his features.

'You work for Harry, right?' he asked pointing, to the truck as he walked back over to Brian.

'Yeah. I just started', Brian replied, not sure whether he should've said that.

'You were just fired', Dom told him sternly before turning and heading towards Leon and I. Brian got into his car and sped away. Dom pushed Leon back towards the café.

'How ya going, James?' he asked me as I sat down on the stool as everybody headed inside.

'Uh, yeah, not to shabby actually', I answered, looking at him weirdly.

'That's Dom', Mia whispered to me as I looked at her.

'Thank you', I whispered in return smiling at her.

'What are you doing here?' Leon asked, sitting beside me.

'Find a job', I answered as Mia sat a can of Pepsi Max in front of me.

'In?' Mia asked for him.

'I've been studying Auto Mechanics and Panel beating. So I'm gunna look around for a place to apply for, got any starters?' I asked them, not really realising they had owned a garage till Dom spoke up.

'We need a good mechanic, any chance your up for it?' Dom asked, sitting back down in his chair at the back of the café.

'Any chance I'm getting paid for this?' I asked in a hopeful tone.

'Of course', Dom muttered before going back to what he had been doing before the commotion before.

'Then yeah, I'm up for it'.

Dom and the "gang" had told me they were going to this street race. Letty told me to go ahead first, they had to do some modifications to Dom's car. Giving me the keys to a car, she took me to her parent's old house down the street (which she still owns). She opened the garage door and I gasped. There sat a V8 Holden Monaro.

'I thought you could only get these in Australia', I gaped. My ex-boyfriend had moved to Australia and told me about the new car his parents had gotten. Taking the directions off of them, I took off.

I arrived not long after, stopping along the way to change out of the clothes that I had flown on the plane in. I changed into a pair of baggy skate jeans with a black tank top, hair held up by a big clip.

'Hey, hold up, hold up, look at this Snow White right here, man', I heard someone say as I pulled up. I looked over to see who had said it and found it to be a rather hefty man, but he wasn't talking to me. I found myself slightly amused that the guy from the café, Brian, I think his name was, happened to be at the same place, at the same time. 'Sweet ride. What you running under there, man?' the hefty guy asked Brian as I gave a smirk, hands stuffed into my front jean pockets, watching with interest. 'You gonna make me find out the hard way?' The guy asked him.

'Hell, yeah', Brian told him with a cocky smirk.

'Your brave, your brave, man, they call me Hector. I got a last name too, but I can't pronounce it, so…' He told Brian with a shrug.

'Brian Spilner', he replied offering his hand.

'Ah, typical white boy name. Know what I'm saying?' Hector told him shaking his hand, making him laugh.

'You see that over there?' Hector asked him point out his ride a sweet piece with the hood off so you could see just how hot he was packing. Brian looked over and saw me, obviously recognising me as he smiled and nodded at me. 'That's mine. It's my baby. But I ain't cuttin' her loose tonight', Hector told him leaning against the side of the car.

'Why not?' he asked him.

'Nah, its 'cause I'm going legit, man. Trying to get on the NIRA circuit. You heard about that?' Hector asked him.

'Oh, hell, yeah', he told him nodding. He looked up at me and stared as I walked over to look at his car.

'So what, what's up with you, man?' Hector asked him.

'I'm just waiting for Torreto', he told him.

'Shit. Better get in line', said an African American guy walking up to us a blue bandana tied around his forehead. 'This yours?' He asked motioning to me.

'Nah, man', Brian smiled, winking at me as I blushed.

'Then can I have her?' the guy asked, touching my ass. I turned around and sneered at him.

'In your dreams, fuck knuckle', I cursed at him as Hector and Brian laughed.

'Now, this yours?' the guy then asked motioning to Brian's car.

'Yeah. I'm standing next to it', Brian replied sarcastically.

'That's funny. You know, Edwin happens to know a few things. And one of the things Edwin knows is', Edwin started, but I smiled.

'It's not how you stand by your car. It's how you race your car, you better learn that', I laughed at him. That was when they heard the motors, five cars making an entrance.

'Oh, shit. Here they come. It's on', Edwin said clapping his hands together once excitedly. They parked, Dom and the rest getting out girls flinging themselves at Dom. He seemed to tolerate them out of amusement really being playful and flirtatious but not serious with them.

'Hey', I muttered walking over to Mia.

'Hey, girl', Mia smiled, as I stood beside her.

'Once race. Two-G buy-in. Winner takes all', Dom instructed them. 'Hector, you're going to hold the cash'.

'Why Hector?' One of the male Asian drivers racing asked, handing his money over.

''Cause he's too slow to make away with the money, man'; I laughed at Edwin as he handed over his own money. Edwin got a chuckle and a glare from Hector, people in the crowd 'Oohing' his statement.

'Okay, good luck guy's', Dom told them getting ready to take off.

'Hey, wait. Hold up', Brian called out. 'I don't have any cash, but I do have the pink slip to my car', he told them stepping up and pulling it from his pocket.

'Hey, you can't just climb in the ring with Ali 'cause you think you box', Jesse said to him.

'He knows I can box', he told him pointing over to Vince sitting on his car. 'So check it out, it's like this. I lose, the winner takes my car, clean and clear. But if I win, I take the cash, and I take the respect', he told them.

People laughed mocking his declaration of 'taking the respect' obviously not thinking much of it. 'To some people, that's more important', he told us.

'That your car?' He asked him motioning to it. We moved over to it as Jesse popped the hood and I took inventory while others in the crowed 'Ahed' and 'Oohed' at it.

'I see a cool-air intake'; I started.

'It's got a NOS-fogger system and a T-four turbo, Dominic', Jesse continued.

'I see an A.I.C. controller. It has direct port nitrous injection', I muttered before Dom finished.

'Yeah, and a stand-alone fuel management system, not a bad way to spend $10,000', Dominic approved.

'You see that shit?' Edwin asked Dom after getting a closer look under his hood. 'He's got enough NOS in there to blow himself up, period'.

'Yeah', Dom replied glancing over at him.

'So, what do you say? Am I worthy?' Brian asked Dom.

'We don't know yet. But you're in', Dom told him. 'Let's go'.

We all pulled out taking off to the location for tonight's race butterflies swarming in my stomach. The drive took longer then I liked I was eager to see the race. They lined up, Brian stopping a little too short of the start line.

It was on Brian pulling out a little behind all the other racers as the race started. He passed up Edwin and the Asian guy with his first hit of NOS and then hit his last shot of NOS passing Dom up. He was nearly to the finish line when Dom's car shot over it ahead of his. I couldn't believe Dom had won, I couldn't believe Brian had almost won!

Brian pulled up shortly after the others stepping out, unable to wipe the smile off his face even though he lost.

'Was that fun?' Jesse asked him scoldingly pulling me over to pop the hood. Smoke billowed out the crowd 'oohing' the condition of his engine when it did.

'What are you smiling about?' Dom asked Brian incredulously.

'Dude, I almost had you', he said pointing over at Dom. I snorted with laughter as Jesse and I continued to check for defaults.

'_You_ almost had _me_?' Dom repeated mockingly pointing over at Brian and then himself. 'You never had me. You never had your car!' Dom told him, the crowd 'Oohing' around them. 'Granny shifting, not double clutchin' like you should', Dom told him walking around him and circling the car. 'You're lucky that hundred-shot of NOS didn't blow the welds on the intake. Almost had _me_?' He questioned a guy in the crowd mockingly, pointing at his own chest.

'Now me and the mad scientist's here, gotta rip apart the block and replace the piston rings you fried. Ask any racer, and real racer. It don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile. Winnings winning', Dom told him the crowd cheering around him.

That was when the cry went out, cops were on their way everyone scrambling for their cars. I was worried as shit as I jumped in my car, Mia jumping in beside me as I sped off for safety.

'Up here', she whispered as I pulled up into an abandoned car park. The cop cars screeched passed and I pulled further up, right to the top.

'Isn't that Dom's car?' I asked as I had switched off my headlights but still saw the bright red car parked at the far end.

'Yeah, but no Dom', Mia muttered as I pulled up beside it. Another car pulled up into the top story and I found it to be Letty. Next thing Leon and Vince pulled up in their respective cars and Jesse wasn't far behind.

'Hey', I smiled as I got out and greeted Leon. He was the first to get out and didn't look too happy.

'I just saw Dom running', Leon assured


	2. Chapter 2

'How is that fine?' I exclaimed, throwing my arms in the air. Everybody just looked at me as if I was insane and I just scoffed before I went back to the driver's side door, got in, started the car and drove off, down the many floors before I reached he ground level.

I searched left and right to see if I could see him, but I couldn't, so I pulled out and watched a green blur speed passed me, almost knocking the front end as I pulled out. I sat back, took a deep breath before following the blur as best I could.

It was probably a good thing that I did, it led me straight to Dominic, and as I went to come up behind him the green blur struck again. He pulled to a stop in front of me and I saw that it was Brian.

I saw the cops behind us, and I panicked as Dom got into Brian's car and Brian indicated for me to follow them. We turned them down a street towards two oncoming cop cars, the cars flipping to try and block our way as Brian moved to slip past them, I, following suit. We skimmed past the cars leaving both of them in the dust blocking the other perusing vehicles.

We got out onto the freeway and I stuck my arm out the window to indicate that I was still here, Brian did the same but instead of to say he was here, he told me to pull up beside them.

'What's up?' I shouted through the window.

'How far away is your place?' Brian shouted back.

'Not far…' I started, about to ask why until Dom interrupted.

'Oh, great', Dom exclaimed after looking out the back window.

'What?' I shouted at him before I noticed the bikes surrounding their car, then mine, from behind.

'It's gonna be a long-ass night, that's what', I just managed to hear Dom mutter as someone tapped on my door.

'Follow us', the guy at my door told me. There was another at Brian's door. I managed to look back at the road quickly before looking back at Brian who gave me the same confused look I was giving him before we both concentrated on the road.

I counted a half a dozen or more bikes surrounding the car from behind. They were ridding aggressively and from Dom's reaction at the first sight of them I didn't think this was going to be a friendly clash.

We were led into a parking lot with big ornate Chinese architecture and statues. There looked to be about a little over half a dozen bikers some of them carrying two riders. I got out of the car just as Dom and Brian had, as they all dismounted and pulled off their helmets.

'I thought we had an agreement. You stay away. I stay away. Everybody stays happy', said the man who was apparently the leader while he checked out Brian's car.

'We got lost Johnny. What do you want me to tell you?' Dom asked him.

'Who's "we"?' Johnny asked him.

"Uh, my new mechanic's. Brian here and over there, James, meet Johnny Tran. That guy in the snake skin pants, that's his cousin, Lance." Dom said, Brian didn't seem to find to be very interesting. "So when are you going to give me a shot at that Honda 2000 of yours?" Dom asked him.

'This your ride, beautiful?' Johnny asked walking towards me and ignoring Dom's question.

'Yes', I said defiantly standing my ground as I felt eyes bore into the side of my head.

'Then it's nobody's car', Johnny stated acting as if I hadn't said anything. I opened my mouth to start saying something but I caught a glimpse of Dom out the corner of my eye and the look he was giving me, made me shut my mouth. I followed Dom's lead and didn't claim it. 'Somebody put in the wrench time', Johnny commented. It was then that I looked over and glared at Dom who just glared in return.

Technically, I hadn't done any work on the car, but it was still mine, they had given it to me. it was signed over to my name. 'What do you think Lance?' Johnny continued.

'It's an amazing machine. Amazing woman', Lance replied a creepy look on his face as he stepped toward me gun still levelled at Dom.

'Yes, indeed. _They_ are', Johnny agreed. 'Lets go', Johnny finally said patting Dom on the arm.

I stared down Lance who acted like he was going to approach me before turning and mounting his bike. The others followed suit Johnny talking to Dom while he got ready to leave. 'I'll see you in the desert next month. Be ready to have your ass handed to you', He warned Dom.

'Yeah, you're gonna need more then that crotch rocket', Dom teased him mockingly.

'I got something for you', Johnny told him before putting his helmet on. I watched as they mounted up and drove away before looking over at Dom.

'What the hell was that all about?' Brian asked before I had a chance too. Dom stopped looking at me to answer him.

'Long story. I'll tell you later. Lets get outta here', Dom told him, indicating over to me to do the same before opening the passenger side door and getting in.

Brian and I moved to follow suit when we all heard two bikes, Johnny and his cousin returning. They came to a stop in front of the two cars lifting their guns and starting to shoot them full of holes. We backed off quickly, Brian and I to the left, Dom to the right, trying not to get rained on by the bullets or glass. I saw the rage start to fill Brian as he listened to them shooting up every inch of the car before driving away.

He looked over at his car now full of holes and on fire, I did the same, unbelieving of my luck. I had just gotten the car of my dreams only to watch it get shot up the next minute.

'NOS!' Dom screamed in warning. Brian and I turned to each other, making the most hilarious faces as we both started to bolt away. I only wish I could have laughed as the force threw both of us into the air, hitting the pavement hard when it went up. I groaned, nursing my leg, as Brian covered me from the dropping bits of metal. They were completely totalled, entirely junk now, just useless scraps of metal.

'Fuck!' I shouted, as I tried to get up, only to find that I'd cut up the whole side of the left leg to the point where I was loosing large amounts of blood. Stripping off my shirt to reveal my tank top, I ripped my shirt open one side and started to tie it around my leg to attempt to stop the bleeding.

'Here', Dom offered jogging over to help, arm outstretched, but Brian had helped me up and I was currently leaning on him for support.

'How bad is it?' Brian asked, as I just shrugged almost lifelessly.

'There's a little bone in there somewhere, but, I'll be fine', I laughed as Dom rubbed his bald head and indicated for us to start walking away.

'So, what the hell was that all about?' Brian asked Dom again, helping me down the curb.

'It's a long story', Dom repeated.

'Well, we got a twenty-mile hike. Humour me', he told him. As I just smiled, trying to think of ways how we could avoid the twenty-mile "hike".

'A business deal that went sour', Dom replied. 'Plus I made the mistake of sleeping with his sister'.

'They all sleep with the sister'; I smiled.

'Is this how you thought you'd be celebrating a win?' I laughed, lying back on the hospital bed. I had been in, they'd drugged me a little bit, waited for it to set in, and then began to stitch my leg up, after cleaning it out of course.

'I don't think this is how I've ever celebrated anything', Dom laughed.

'Where's Brian?' I asked as Dom shrugged.

'I don't know, he could have left by now', Dom suggested.

'Or he could of just have gone to get something to eat', Brian laughed, handing m a beef and cheese Pie. 'Don't know what you see in those'.

'It's an Australian thing, you know the whole tomato sauce and beef pie thing', I smiled, taking a huge bite out of the pie. I hadn't eaten for nearly four hours.

'An Australian thing, right', Dom sighed.

'Yo, Spilner', Dom called out to Brian from the porch as he held me up effortlessly with one arm. 'You want a beer?'

'Yeah, sure', he replied. He turned and began to make his way towards the house as Dom passed me over before walking inside.

I felt him tense up as we walked inside.

'It's like your walking into the loins den, isn't it?' I questioned as he chuckled and shook his head. Vince was in the corner playing an awesome guitar, and Letty was lying on the floor playing a game. Dom took his jacket off before heading further inside.

'Yo, Dom. Hey man, we were just about to go looking for you, brother', Leon stated as Dom knocked the beer out of his hand.

'Where were you?' Dom asked walking up to Vince in the corner.

'There were mass cops there; they came in from every direction. There shit was orchestrated!' Vince exclaimed.

'This your beer?' Dom asked, pointing at the beer beside him.

'Yeah that's my beer', Vince answered, as Dom picked it up and walked away.

'Yo, Einstein, take it up stairs', Dom stated as he disturbed Jesse making out with some chick, 'You can't detail a car with the cover on', he walked off, 'Can't even get that right'.

'You all right?' asked Letty. I knew Letty and Dom were an item, so I wasn't so shocked by the whole caring notion.

'Am I alright?' Dom stated angrily stepping towards her.

'It was just a question', she said simply.

'Yo, Dom', Vince called from the corner, 'Why'd you bring the buster here?' Dom had walked further towards us, beers in hand.

'Because the buster kept me out of handcuffs, he didn't just run back to the fort! The buster bought me back', Dom shouted. He walked towards us, arms outspread a beer in each hand, and 'You can have any brew you want, as long as it's a Corona'.

'Thanks, man', Brian muttered, taking the beer from his right hand. I took the second bear from Dom's left hand hopping around just to wake my right leg up.

'That's Vince's. So enjoy it', Dom stated, indicating to Brian's new beer as I smiled. I didn't know what Vince had against him, maybe it was because of Mia being interested in Brian or what, but I enjoyed watching Brian take his shirt, wash the spit from just inside and outside of the top and taking a delectable sip.

'That's my man', I laughed, slapping him on the back and wobbling a bit.

'Hey, you got a bathroom?' he asked me, nudging me a little. I was a little unstable so I wobbled a bit, but I got my balance back.

'Yeah, upstairs, first door to your right'; Dom answered for me, still staring down Vince with a slight smile.

'Yeah, so what girls are here?' Dom asked, waving his hands around to emphasis his point.

Brian smiled at me and led me over to he stairs and sat me down, 'I'll be back'.

'That's cool', I laughed as I watched the scene unfold before me.

'You name it. You want mine?' Leon asked in reply to Dom's question.

'You need to shut the hell…' Letty started as Leon was still talking till he shut up and walked off.

'You don't have anything?' Dom smiled at Leon.

'You look a bit tired, I think you should go upstairs and give me a massage', Letty stated simply, taking his hands.

'Look at all our guests', Dom pointed out.

'How about we go up stairs and you give me a massage', Letty stated a little harder as Dom gave in with a smile and slung his arm around her, heading to the stairs just as Brian came down them.

'Yo', Dom stated, leaning against the start of the railing, his arm still around Letty, 'You know you owe me a ten second car right?'

'Oh…shit', Letty and I laughed as they headed upstairs. I turned to Brian, who helped me up, heading back to the party to find, Leon, Vince and Jesse already to have a rumble.

Vince took a step forward and before I could focus on what was happening I felt Brian tense up again.

'Did you wipe the seat?' Vince sneered. My eyes finally fell to shiny gun on the table surround and covered by chips. That explains it.

'Oh, Jesus Christ. Would you cut the shit, already, come on!' Mia shouted coming out of nowhere, pushing Vince away. I sighed thankfully, releasing the breath I didn't know I was holding and I wasn't even the one in a fight.

'Come on, let's go get me a drink', Mia muttered pulling Brian away as I stubbled around, only to be caught by Jesse at the last second.

'Aw, come on, man, we were just about to get it on', Leon whined as Mia and Brian disappeared.

'Shit', I swore as pain shot through my leg, up my left side and straight to my head, causing me to pass out.


	3. Chapter 3

'_Morning sunshine', I heard someone whisper._

'_Mmm', I mumbled rolling over before sitting up as quickly as a gunshot. 'Fuck', I swore, holding my head. 'What happened?'_

'_You don't remember?' came the voice, to which I finally opened my eyes, to find that it was Letty._

'_I remember how that happened', I muttered, as I watched her look at my leg a little uneasy, 'But how did I get here?'_

'_That Brian guy helped Jesse bring you up here'; Letty smirked as she knelt beside my bed._

'_I thought he left with Mia', I sighed, allowing my body to relax while rubbing my eyes._

'_I dunno, but all I know was that Mia knocked on the door and told me to come with her, and well he and Jesse were just laying you on the bed', Letty explained, shrugging._

'_Furry muff', I muttered as Letty snorted. 'What?'_

'_What the hell did you say that for?' she laughed._

'_Furry Muff, fair enough, they rhyme?' I smiled, stretching my arms, 'A guy I went to M.I.T.A with said it all the time, and I guess it just stuck'._

'Now I know I was adopted, because I cannot be related to you', Letty laughed as I pretended yo look hurt.

'I'm surprised', I smiled, as Letty stared at me funny.

'At what?' she muttered, standing up and switching off the fan on the ceiling.

'At the fact that you've only just realised that now', I smiled, causing her to slap me, much unlike herself. Letty was a little weird to figure out. She could be as tough as bloody nails, but eventually you'd see a side of her that no one should ever witness. That side of her is filled with guilt, worry and depression.

'You haven't even asked me what I did to my leg', I yawned finally, as I watched the realization hit her with a ten-pound brick before she gaped.

'Yeah, tell me, what the fuck did you do to your leg?' she screeched.

'I'll tell you…' I started, 'while you help me down stairs'.

'I'm going to kill the fucking c', Letty stormed as Dom stood across the kitchen glaring at me. I just stared back, not all to happy that he had kept it from Letty.

'Look, Letty, it was no big deal, we didn't lose anything, we're all alive', Dom tried.

'He's right Letty, this is as bad as it got, no body got hurt, we're all still alive, and like Dom said, we didn't lose anything', I smiled as she just fumed.

'We lost your car that I spent a whole life savings on, just to get it from Australia'; she sighed before walking out of the kitchen.

'What did you tell her for you fucking idiot?' Dom fumed, almost as bad as Letty when she found out how I hurt my leg.

'What do you mean, what did I tell her for, she's my bloody cousin, she's pretty much my life here, she's all I have and I start keeping things from her now…' I snapped, hobbling around on my new found crutches.

'You could've waited until she found out from somebody else', he grumbled.

'And have her rip my head off for not telling her first', I growled, 'no thanks'.

'Look, you should've come to me first'; he tried, quietly.

'You're not my mother, nor my father, I'm over the legal age, I no longer need a guardians consent, so yeah I probably could have come to see you, but I had no obligation. So how about you shove it back into your pants and we forget this', I sneered before walking out of the kitchen and into the lounge.

'Riley', Dom tried but I ignored him, flopping onto the couch beside Jesse. He was on his lunch break from the shop.

'What's happening?' Jesse muttered tiredly, resting his head on my shoulder watching TV.

'Never mind', I sighed, wrapping my arm around his shoulders. I felt him relax slightly before his breathing slowed and started to snore a little.

The incident in the kitchen kept running through my head over and over again, much like the cartoon characters on the television did. I just couldn't figure out who was hurt more, Letty, because I didn't tell her, or Dom, because I didn't go to him first?

We were all laughing around the shop the next morning, although I couldn't do much, I was under the car fiddling with tid-bits that people hadn't done properly. When I heard a truck reversing. I wheeled myself out, trying to figure out whether we had any shipments coming in today, but my questions were answered when a rather burnt out car graced us with it's presence at the door.

'All right, what the hell is this? What do you got here?' Dom asked leaning on an arm against the wall. I managed to pull myself up from the floor and hobbled over to the door way on my crutches.

'This is your car', Brian told him with a smile, motioning to wreck on the haul truck.

'My car?' Dom replied surprised, pointing to his chest, Red Bull in hand. 'I said a ten-second car not a ten-minute car'.

'You could push this across the finish line, or tow it', Jesse stated seriously, making Mia, Dom and Letty laugh.

'Couldn't even tow that across the finish line', Dom laughed as I sighed, hobbling over to the front of the car. I dropped one of my crutches and gripped the car with one hand, and hauled myself up before dropping the other one.

'No faith', Brian laughed, causing everybody to laugh again.

'Oh, I have faith in you, but this isn't a junkyard. _This is a garage_', Dom stated; pointing at him, the red bull still in hand.

'Hey, pop the hood', Brian told me smiling; knowing something we obviously didn't. Jesse jumped up beside me with a crow bar.

'Pop the hood?' Dom questioned, and Brian nodded.

'Pop the hood'; Brian retaliated. Jesse popped it while I lifted and propped it up. My smiles widened, as did Jesse's as we looked at each other then back into the car.

'2 J.Z. engine, no shit', Jesse laughed, peaking further under the hood.

'And what did I tell you?' Brian pointed at Dom, obviously waiting for him to apologize.

'I retract my previous statement', Dom nodded, holding the crow bar that Jesse had dropped in his excitement.

'You know what? This will decimate all _after_ you put…' Jesse started, looking to me for a price.

'Roughly fifteen grand in it, or more, maybe, if we have to…' I started.

'Overnight parts from Japan', Jesse finished, bowing at the mention of Japan.

'We'll put it on my tab at Harry's', Dom told us and we practically danced.

'Yes!' Jesse exclaimed happily.

'I got to get you racing again so I can make some money off your ass', Dom told Brian pointing at him with the crowbar. 'There's this show down in the desert called Race Wars and that's where you'll do it', He walked off into the garage. He watched him walk off, before looking at me. Dom turned around and pointed at him with the crowbar again.

'I'll tell you what. When you're not working' at Harry's, you work here. If you can't find the right tool in this garage, Mr Arizona, you don't belong near a car', he nodded, as Brian smiled.

'He owns you now', Mia told him as he smirked to himself.

'Nice work, Mr Arizona', I mocked as Brian looked at me. Jesse followed Dom into the shed to talk about what they'd do with the car.

'Why thank you', he smiled before walking off.

The next day the parts had arrived and the car was slowly taking shape. It was currently lunchtime and my leg was killing me. Dom, Leon, Jesse, Brian and I were eating lunch outside on the car we had all been working on. We had sandwiches and beers all of us hungry and dirty we all didn't care though, we were just relaxing.

The guys were all topless; I was trying not to stare at anyone, specifically Dom and Brian who were both sitting to far away from me to be enjoying the lunch break. It was a weird feling to think like that about your cousins guy, I don't know why, but it just was.

Jesse sitting on the back behind them while Leon sat on the ground leaning up on the side. I was in my baggy jeans and beside the fact that I really hate showing more skin than is really necessary I was sitting in my bra. It was hot and the tank top was way to clingy.

We were all just sitting around relaxing in the breeze flowing through and talking shit. Dom brought up the subject of first time drivers and when we all had driven for the first time.

'I was like five years old. I was sittin' on my fathers lap. And he's got me propped up and both my hands are on the steering wheel. And he kept goin' faster and faster. I remember hearin' him laughing, the faster we went the happier he was', Dom told us, myself smiling.

'How old were you again?' Jesse asked him.

'Five', Dom smiled in remembrance.

'My moms taught me how to drive'; Leon shared with us.

'Your moms?' Dom asked staring down at him.

'Yeah man. That was right before she left though', Leon muttered. 'You know, hate her for that but I can't hate her completely. You know?'

'First time I drove, it was on my learners permit. We were on the 40 Freeway, my mother and I. Car in front of me locks up its breaks', Brian said mimicking the sound. 'Then boom! Someone blew into me from behind. Five car pile up, first time I drove'. I couldn't help but smile.

'Before my dad went away. He bought me this uh, '71 Malibu classic the first day I got my license it was the greatest day. It was also the first day that I had sex', Jesse laughed, beating us all hands down. I laughed with the guys at that one, Leon sounding very impressed. 'I shit you not', Jesse assured us.

'Somethin' about learning how to drive. Like-it's you're a driver or you're not a driver. So up until the point you start driving is one lifetime and then after you start driving is another lifetime', Dom explained. I couldn't exactly say the same, because my life has been the same no matter when I started driving

'Tell me what you think about this', I Jessie asked Brian cigarette in hand while they sat in the office in the garage loading the computer with a floppy disk. I leant against the door frame, watching. I knew how smart Jesse was when it came to the design tech's of a car, but I had never had the chance to see him in action. 'Koni adjustables. Gonna save us about two pounds. And they're gonna give us better traction for the hole shot. All right? This is your basic layout of the car, and that's _pretty_ much what it could look like when it's finished. Red, green', Jesse muttered mucking around with the buttons on the computer.

'Man, you should be goin' to M.I.T. or somethin'', Brian smiled at him as he nodded his head before shaking it.

'Yeah, right', He laughed. 'No, I got that…Oh what's it called? That attention disorder…' Jesse mumbled, shaking his hand trying to think of the problem he had.

'Oh, A.D.D.?' Brian asked.

'**Yes**, that _shit_. Yeah. You know, I was good in algebra…and like math and shit. Everything else I failed. Dropped out of school. I don't know. It's just somethin' about engines…that-that calms me down, you know?' Jesse explained.

'And aren't you fucking good at it too', I shouted, hobbling in, pretending to only have heard the last part of it. Jesse had never told me any of this and I didn't want him to know I had been eavesdropping on him. If he wanted me to know, he would've told me.


	4. Chapter 4

'Stop staring, he'll catch you', I stated loudly as I caught Mia looking out the window again at Brian. She seemed to have this huge thing for him.

'Shut up', she screeched, I could tell she was embarrassed.

'Just finish the salad so we can have lunch', I laughed, as she threw a lettuce leaf at me as I walked out the door to hand the marinade to Dom and have a beer with the guys. Letty and Vince had gone to go get some buns and shit for the BBQ.

'Yo, Brian, you want a beer', I shouted, as he looked at me and nodded, holding up his nearly empty beer. 'What about you pumpkin?' I asked Dom, sitting the marinade for the chicken in Dom's hand.

'Nah, I got one', he muttered.

'Kiss', I smiled, leaning my cheek at him.

'What are you a whore?' Dom snapped, as he kissed my cheek.

'Only for you', I smiled, before hobbling inside with my beer.

'Be careful, I might take you up on that offer one day', Dom laughed as I flipped him the bird and closed the door behind me.

'They ready for the salads yet?' Mia asked as I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a packet of chips.

'No where near it', I smiled heading back outside just as Letty, Leon and Vince pulled up.

'I'm outta here', Vince said handing over his bags when he saw Brian. What had he done that was so bad to him? Except for the whole thing where he kicked his ass, that's excluded from the equation because he beat him equally back.

'Come on, dog', Leon said taking his bags.

'What're you talking about?' I asked.

'Yo, Dom', Leon said calling his attention to Vince.

'Vince, get over here and give us a hand', Dom called out to him.

'Looks like you got all the help you need, brother', Vince replied angrily getting into his car and speeding away. I turned to Brian and watched him shake his head, looking uncomfortable, not that he was made to feel that way.

I helped Mia to carry all the dishes and cutlery outside oddly, while Dom stood by the BBQ cooking the chicken. It smelled great and looked better as it was sat in the middle of the table. Jesse leant forward and grabbed a piece of chicken.

'Wait, hold up', Dome started, 'Since you were the first out of everybody to reach for the chicken, you say grace'.

'Dear heavenly...' Jesse paused.

'Spirit', Leon added.

'Spirit, thank you', Jesse said awkwardly before continuing, 'Thank you for providing us with a direct port nitrous injection, four core intercoolers and ball-bearing turbos and titanium valve springs'.

I watched Leon at the start of grace, noticing him sigh sadly, before turning my attention on Mia who crossed her chest. I looked to Brian beside me and noticed him tense up and gape as Jesse continued to say grace. I then watched Dom, who was seated next to Letty. He looked up just as i looked at him and smiled.

He closed his eyes and bowed his head again as I turned my attention to the look now passing between Mia and Brian. She smiled and he just smirked.

'Thank you', Jesse finished.

'Amen', Leon smiled, as we all clapped. After Jesse saying grace, we all shared a swig of beer in celebration and were just about to eat when Vince showed.

'Look who it is. Ol' Coyote's are us; I thought you weren't hungry, pumpkin?' Leon asked as Vince ambled his way towards the group.

'You know, I got to eat', he replied.

'All right, sit down', Dom told him motioning to the table. He walked up behind Dom kissing the top of his baldhead affectionately while Dom cast a glance his way.

Lunch passed rather quickly as we all chatted amusedly together, cheering and booing at several topics, every now and then a piece of food found it's way into someone's lap from across the table, but all in all, it was good.

We all sat down in the lounge room, watching a movie that Vince had gone and rented while he disappeared for a little bit.

'Your hands on my hair', I muttered to Jesse as he sat at my head on the couch.

'I'll be back', Letty whispered as she got up and headed out of the door.

'Dom, switch with me, she whinges to much', Jesse mumbled to Dom as he rolled his eyes in the dark and switched seats with him.

'I'll move', I muttered as soon as Dom sat down. He grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him. I landed rather uncomfortably, one of his knee's right in my crutch. 'Sorry', I muttered, embarrassed. Standing up I made my way out of the lounge room and into the kitchen.

'Need any help, Mia?' I yawned, leaning against the door frame.

'No, that's all right', she laughed as Brian smiled beside her.

'All right, but bubbles aren't classed as protection', I joked as Mia threw bubbles at me, looking rather embarrassed, before I headed towards the door. 'Mia?'

'Yeah?' she called out.

'I'm going to sit outside for awhile', I muttered, opening the door while making my way to the far corner seat.

'Its cold out here', a soft voice sounded from the front door.

'Shouldn't you be watching the movie with the guys?' I questioned as Brian made his way further out the door and into the seat beside me.

'I don't think that'd be my smartest move right now', he muttered, leaning back and sinking into the chair.

'Why do you say that?' I smiled, bringing my unhurt leg up to my chest in an attempt to get warmth.

'You obviously know Vince's huge thing for Mia, right?' he started.

'Yes, what did you do?' I laughed, looking from the dark figure that was Brian to the bright lights beyond in the city.

'I asked Mia out, she said no at first...' Brian continued.

'Because she doesn't date her brother's friends?' I smiled as Brian just chuckled.

'Heard it all before, have you?' he mumbled.

'It just seems every time a guy comes to the group Mia is usually the one that they're attracted to, which in my books, is a bad idea', I sighed.

'Why a bad idea?' he asked.

'Have you seen the size of Dom?' I laughed.

'True', he grumbled.

'So what did she say?' I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

'No, at first, but Vince came in', Brian sighed.

'Oh no, really?' I snorted. 'Then what?'

'Mia started asking him about the place that he wanted to take her to, what it was called, and then all of a sudden she's turning to me and saying I can take her there', Brian exclaimed.

'Whoa', I stuttered, sounding surprised. 'You, what did you say?'

'I said Okay?' He questioned, turning to me.

'Vince will be planning to kill you at this very moment', I snorted as Brian shook his head with a laugh.

'Have I dug myself that deep already?' he laughed.

'I'm afraid so', I smiled, 'Vince's thing for Mia has been going since they were kids'.

'Why are you...?' Brian started, but paused, trying to think of how to word it.

'Not afraid to tell you things most people would refrain from telling a stranger?' I added.

'Yeah?' he muttered, confused.

'Because I feel I can trust you, my feelings are never usually wrong', I smiled, as I heard him breathe out slowly.

'I'm off, I'll talk to you later', he smiled, looking a little awkward though as he made his way down the steps and into his car.

'Hey?' Letty's voice yawned from the door, as I watched Brian pull out and onto the road.

'Hey', I smiled, turning to face her.

'You okay?' she asked, concerned.

'Just a little homesick and lonely', I muttered, as she shook her head, and closed the door again.

To be honest, I wasn't homesick or lonely; I was regretting coming here at all. I was regretting getting involved with the family like I have and I was regretting keeping everything from Letty. Let's just say, regret was playing on my mind.

Brian had pulled some strings for me at Harry's. I was working the counter for a while, Harry was a little short, and so he'd given me part time work. I wasn't there too long when Hector came in the door followed by a few other groupies. Hector greeted Harry before spotting me by the counter obviously surprised walking over to me alone.

'Damn what have we got here? Hired some new help huh?' Hector joked.

'Don't even think about it', Brian told him with a smile moving forward, in front of me.

'Oh, all right. Like that. What's up, Spilner? How you feeling?' Hector asked as Brian smiled and shook his hand.

'Pretty good. So what's up? What do you need?' he asked him.

'What's up, man, I'm going to need you to hook me up. Three of everything, I made a list', He told Brian digging it out and handing it over. 'Why don't you look that over?'

'When do you need this stuff by?' He asked him moving to face the computer.

'Tomorrow, today, now', Hector told him in a stern voice.

'Right', Brian replied smiling.

'Come on man, white girls work faster don't they?' He asked jokingly, looking at me. 'Beto, pasa le feria, homes. That's right', Hector said to one of his friends who handed him a roll of cash.

'Hey, you said you need three of all this stuff?' Brian asked him realizing what a haul he was asking for.

'Yeah, three of everything. What do you think about that? Check this out', Hector asked waving the cash at me. I smiled awkwardly.

I pulled Brian into the back once we both knocked off work and just opened my mouth and pretended to shout.

'I know', Brian sighed. 'Maybe he has the DVD players'.

'What DVD players?' I asked cautiously looking at him.

'What?' Brian asked, snapping back to me.

'You just said he might have the DVD players', I grumbled, looking at him.

'I didn't mean...' He tried, but I just stared at him. I thought I had seen him before, but I wasn't sure where from, but it finally clicked.

'You son of a bitch', I growled. 'You ass hole'.

'What?' he asked me confused, and slightly scared.

'You're a cop!' I whispered angrily.

'Don't be stupid', he snapped.

'Boosting cars, Arizona, 1998, away for a year, ring a bell?' I snapped.

'Oh shit', he growled, wiping his hands down his face. 'Look...'

'No, you look, I don't know what you're here for, but whatever it is, I can tell you now, your wasting your time', I snapped.

'Don't you think I've been trying to tell them it's not Dom, don't you think I've tried that, over and over and over again', Brian snapped.

'And don't you think Dom will rip your head off if he finds out a cop who lied to him and will be going on a date with his baby sister?' I growled.

'Mia's the real deal', Brian sneered.

'That may be true, but Dom's not going to see it like that', I snapped, pacing up and down the back room.

'Why do you have to do this, why now?' I growled, more to myself than him.

'What are you talking about?' he asked me, incredulously.

'They locked me away for two years, my only option to get out earlier was...' I started.

'To go under cover', Brian sighed.

'Arizona police force, nearly two years now', I smiled sadly as Brian just nodded his head.

'We got to check out Hectors garage', Brian muttered, as I nodded.

'For Dom', I muttered.

'For Mia', he sighed.

We realized we had trouble and once the new girl relieved us both, we headed towards Hectors garages. I hated breaking in, but I needed to know what he was really packing before race wars.

It was rather easy to break inside the place as I looked around, checking under the hoods, while Brian looked underneath the cars and around the garage. From what I saw, we were going to have our work cut out for us at Race Wars. We had just slipped out and came to a stop on the ground, Brian first and then myself, when I was struck in the back of the head the force of the blow smacking me face first into the wall I had just come down from.

I was starting to come round as I was dragged by the back of my jacket until I was dropped roughly. I glanced up and got even more confused at the sight of Vince with a shotgun pointed down in my direction, moving it between me and another figure.

'They moan like cops', Vince stated and that was when Dom appeared from the shadows. He had an angry cold look on his face and that told me I was in for it.

'This is one of those times when you need to be very clear about what you say', Dom told me. 'Nod if you understand me'.

'Nod!' Vince screamed at me when I didn't answer fast enough for him, getting ready to hit me with the butt of the gun again, so I nodded.

'Brian?' Dom added. The figure beside me nodded and I realised it was Brian.

'Sit up', Dom told us sternly. Eyes on Vince and his gun I sat up slowly head pounding. 'Tell me what the hell you're doing down here', He ordered me.

'What I'm doing?' I repeated, just to be clear getting poked in the head by the gun.

'Dom, I owe…I owe you a ten-second car. And what this is about, this is about Race Wars', Brian said getting poked roughly with the gun as well.

'We just went in there and Hector is going to be running three Honda Civics with Spoon engines. And on top of that, he just came into Harry's today and he ordered three T-66 turbo's, with NOS and a MoTeC system exhaust', I explained to him.

'So what are you saying? You're going to go around and check everybody's shit out, one garage after another?' He asked us.

'Yeah', Brian told him slowly coming to his feet, helping me to mine. 'Because Dom, you know…I can't lose again'.

'She's a cop', Vince told Dom. 'He's a cop!' He repeated heatedly.

'You a cop?' Dom asked taking a few steps towards me and I scoffed at the question.

'No, how can I be a fucking cop you idiot, I'm 19', I told him simply.

'You a cop?' Dom asked Brian, turning to him.

'No', Brian huffed, holding his head. 'No'.

'Let's go for a little ride', Dom told us after giving me a look before walking past us.

'Walk!' Vince said pushing us forward, gun pointing into both of our backs.

Before I knew it we were at the last Garage of the night, Trans', we climbed in through the roof and bounced off the hood of the car below onto the floor. We slowly spread out looking around, not sure what we were looking for exactly, when we got company. Dom pulled me behind a car with him just as Tran and his crew pulled inside. A man was pulled out of one of the cars I had a feeling he wasn't there for tea and cupcakes. That was when I noticed Dom's handgun and Vince's, not sure if I felt better.

'Let me ask you a question Ted', Johnny said to the man held at gunpoint. 'Do you see anything wrong here?'

'No', the fat man stated. Johnny grabbed him and began to shove him head first into the empty engine carriage.

'We got no engines do we?' Johnny yelled angrily. I was really beginning to have second thoughts about the whole move to L.A. right about then. I thought the whole guns thing was a stereotype, but no. 'Do we?' Johnny repeated as he pushed his head in.

'No!' Ted cried answering the question.

'Do we?' Johnny repeated.

'No!' Ted repeated before finally getting pulled backwards, only to land heavily on his back.

'Couple of Nissan S.R.-twenty motors will pull a premium one week before Race Wars, huh?' Johnny asked him.

'Probably', Ted replied.

'You're a smart fence, Ted. Maybe too smart. What are you feeling Lance? Forty weight? Fifty weight?' Johnny asked his cousin taking off his leather jacket.

'A forty weight sounds nice', Lance answered. A moment later Johnny had Ted pinned to the ground and the lube hose in his face, practically in his mouth. Lance pumped it while Johnny made sure the man was practically drowning in the stuff. I wasn't exactly the toughest of people, and I was seriously beginning to get freaked out. I buried my head into Dom's arm as he reached around and pulled me into him, now burying my head into his chest.

'Where are they Ted? Where are they?' Johnny asked him.

'Enough!' Ted gasped.

'Where are they?' Johnny repeated.

'There in a warehouse. There in a warehouse, man!' Ted cried from his position as best he could with the hose in his mouth and all. Johnny finally let him up looking dishevelled as he tried to clean himself up with a rag.

'Ted. Kiss my shoes?' Johnny asked him though it wasn't really a question, or a suggestion it was an order. Slowly the man who was coughing on his hands and knees gathered himself enough to crawl towards Johnny with Lance waving his gun in encouragement. As soon as he lowered his face to kiss his shoes he was kicked, Johnny knocking him backwards.

'Let's go get our engines', Johnny said throwing the rag on Ted standing and making for his ride. I turned away from Dom to watch. Feeling cold as we left, the four of us making our way out wordlessly, Dom had Leon take Brian and Brian's car back home, I was stuck accepting Dom's ride after we got to the house.

I sat in silence next to him, trying to absorb everything that had happened today. It was another long day for me and I had a feeling the next few days weren't going to calm down. I was pissed off about what had happened and I tried desperately not to let it all come out right now.

'How's your head?' Dom asked from beside me, undoing his seatbelt as we sat in the car in the driveway.

'Fine', I replied sarcastically, undoing my own seatbelt, reaching for the door handle.

'What's wrong?' he asked, locking the doors.

'You want to be able to trust me? How the fuck am I supposed to trust you if you get Vince to go and do all that shit to me. I've got an egg on my head the size of Australia', I sneered rubbing my head. I didn't bother asking how we got home so fast, I just unlocked my door and got out.

'Go get some sleep, we'll talk in the morning', he mumbled as we headed up to the front door.

'Where have you been?' Letty sighed, hugging me.

'With Brian', I whispered, pushing passed her and up the stairs to the left of the door.

'Is she okay?' Letty asked Dom as he came through the door after me.

'A little shaken up, but she's fine', Dom sighed, kissing Letty softly.

I yawned as I swung the door of the garage door up and revealed the dusty innards of the garage. It was currently six am, and I was wide awake, the thumping in my head helping. 'Good morning sunshine', Brian cheered as he walked down the road beside the garage.

'Dom, you know I can't lose again', I mimicked him from last night.

'At least kissing ass is better than insulting him', Brian smiled, heading into the garage.

'What are you doing here so early?' I questioned him as I switched on the lights.

'Want to get finished on that car so I don't owe him anything', Brian smiled, as the gravel outside crunched under what I understood was tyres.

'Fair enough', I smiled.

One by one, everybody rolled up with several different parts and decorations for the car as one by one, we fixed up the little nicks and scrapes that had happened during construction.

'Are you ready for this?' Letty addressed Jesse as Brian started the car. She purred like a kitten, which is why I guess Jesse was patting the hood.

'Bye, bye', Brian smiled as he drove off out of the Garage and onto the main highway.


	5. Chapter 5

'Big date, tonight?' I smiled to Mia who came out to ask Dom about some paperwork.

'I might have, you have got to tell me how you know just about everything', Mia snapped happily, getting the info she wanted and walking back inside.

'It's a secret', I called out to her laughing.

'How's your head?' Dom asked me, as my smiled disappeared.

'Fine', I snapped, getting back to work on the cars people were waiting for.

'You can't ignore me forever', Dom tried.

'Watch me', I growled, glaring at him, warning him if he kept pushing the point I would rip his head off.

'What's wrong?' I heard Letty ask Dom as he Dom walked passed her. He didn't answer, or at least I didn't hear him answer.

'Stupid fucking...' I started to whisper to myself as I was wheeled underneath a car.

'What's going on?' Letty snapped, grabbing my leg and heaving my out from underneath the car I was working on.

'Don't worry about it, Let, it's no big deal', I smiled, wheeling back under only for her to grab my leg and wheel me back out.

'I want answers, Jaimee, and I want them now', Letty snapped.

'All right', I growled, standing up and throwing the tools at my feet, 'Dom caught Brian and myself in Hectors garage. Hector came into Harry's yesterday with a wad of cash and ordered three of everything on the list he gave Brian'.

'And what's that got to do with you?' she snapped.

'Race wars, Letty, fucking think', I growled, sitting down on the board, grabbing my tools and wheeling back under the car. She didn't pull me back and I was thankful for it, because the face I was currently holding I wouldn't have been able to explain. One of utter terror.

It was in the middle of the desert basically. Racers came from everywhere just to be there. I was pulling up to the security at gate 9 in front of Brian. I was chosen to lead him there, so that he didn't get lost, whether or not he had the directions.

'How's it going?' I asked, as he leaned down to talk to me.

'What's up', he said handing me a slip of paper, 'Welcome to race wars'.

'Thanks'; I smiled before revving it up and pulling inside. I drove a little while till I found the spot to park with the others.

'What are you thinking now?' I laughed as Brian got out of his car and came to stand beside me.

'That this is a huge event?' Brian tried and I just shook my head smiling as I started to head in the direction of the team trailers when Jesse almost smacked me with the door.

'What's up?' he said rather enthusiastically.

'Hey, what's up, Jesse?' I smiled following him looking at the slip of paper in his hand, 'What do you have in your hand?'

'Throwing down the pink slip, just like Brian', he said happily as we headed for the car line up.

'The pink slip to what? The Jetta?' Brian asked, rather curious now.

'Yeah', he said, not fazed at all by our tones.

'You can't bet your dad's car', I said sternly.

'It's all right', he said, reassuring me, 'I ain't losing'. The next part he added scared me more than it should of. 'This fool is running a Honda 2000', we were still heading to the car line up, Jesse still not being deterred from his path. 'I'll win. That way, me and my dad can roll when he gets out of prison. It's all good'.

'Well, they're going to throw him right back in prison after he kills you', I tried once more, but he just swore and jogged for his car. Leon was pulling it up to the starting line for him.

'You visualize the win. Hey, visualize the win Jesse. I'm serious. You got to listen to me man', Leon muttered as he closed the door once Jesse was in.

'Who you racing?' I asked, knowing full well who he was racing but I was to afraid to say anything. The window of the Honda 2000 came down and I almost had a heart attack. Johnny Tran. Leaning down I looked through the open passenger window of Jesse's car. 'Jesse, don't do it. I bet you he's got more than $100,000 under the hood of that car'.

'Uhuh', Jesse mumbled. He wasn't listening to me, at all.

The race to the finish line was on. They were neck to neck the basis of the way until Jesse hit up his shot of NOS. he was going to win. Tran hit his shot of NOS and over took him just before the finish line. Jesse shot through the turn off for where everybody else was and shot through.

The next thing I knew everybody was cheering and I saw Johnny Tran's car. I hobbled over, trying my hardest not to scream as every knocked into my leg and pushed through the crowd, Dom was punching the shit out of Tran. Letty doing a fairly good job on Lance, Tran's cousin. I stuck my fucked leg out and tripped him over as he tried to get up and run at Letty.

'Get Dom', she shouted, as I turned around and saw him being dragged off.

'I never narked on nobody', Dom was shouting as I finally broke through the line of security. 'I never narked on nobody'.

'Dom!' I shouted, trying to run after them, as Vince and Leon were dragging him away. He didn't hear me, or he just chose to ignore me. 'Dom!'

'What?' he shouted angrily turning away. I stepped back, scared, as he was huffing. I didn't know what to say, I just had to calm him down.

'I…' I started, stepping back once again. He saw that I was scared and he looked up to the sky before looking back at me.

'Jaimee!' someone shouted behind me as I looked back to find Letty. I took a worried glance back at Dom, and just stared into his eyes. I placed my hand gently on his stomach, and smiled sadly.

'Just breathe', I whispered, picking at his shirt before I jogged off to Letty.

Night had fallen and everybody was partying except me. I couldn't find the team anywhere, and I knew no one. It wasn't until I saw Mia arguing with Dom that I knew something was up.

'I have respected you, and I haven't said shit', she yelled, 'And now I am asking you not to go'.

'I'm doing this for both of us'; he tried to calm her down.

'No, No, don't give me that crap. You're doing this for you. Why are you insisting on doing this? Dom, please, don't, just don't', Mia shouted, he didn't listen. He got into his car and drove towards me.

'Get in Letty's car', he ordered before spinning his tyres and speeding off.

'Mia', I called out as I ran after her, 'What's going on?'

'What?' she said in a monotone.

'Jaimee, get in the fucking car', Letty screamed, before i could even repeat myself. I smiled sadly and jogged over to Letty's car and hopping in.

'What's going on?' I asked Letty as she sped up to catch up with Dom, Vince and Leon.

'Jesse ran off and we need your help on something', she growled, finally catching up to the others. My phone started to ring as we started to slow down.

'Hello?' I muttered into the phone, but no-one said anything, that was until I heard shouting.

'You know what I'm talking about', I heard Brian shout.

'No, Brian', Mia said angrily.

'Oh, do you always have tears in your eyes when Dom drives away?' Brian asked.

'What's the matter with you?' she asked, the tone of her voice getting croaky.

'Come on, what's your brother racing off in the middle of the night for?' Brian asked, honestly, 'I'm talking about the trucks, and do you know about the trucks?'

'No, Brian, what trucks?' she shouted, 'Jesus Christ…What?'

'Listen to me', he started, 'I'm a cop, Mia, and so is Jaimee'.

'What are you talking about, Brian?' she muttered trying to push my arm away, 'Jaimee's Letty's cousin, she can't be a cop, what is this?'

'Ever since the first time that I met you, I've been undercover. Since Jaimee got here, her too', this was hurting me as well, even though he was saying it. These people had helped me through everything, and I had betrayed everything sacred to them.

'Oh, you asshole', she said gravely, 'you asshole', she said getting angrier.

'Mia…' he tried.

'Get off of me, Brian', she shouted.

'Mia, listen to me!' He shouted angrily, 'everything I ever said to you, and everything I felt, was real. I swear to god, you have to believe me, Mia. But right now this isn't about you and me, your brother's out there, he's about to pull a job and we're running out of time', Brian explained, 'Those truckers, they're not laying down anymore, maybe they'll make it through tonight, but every single law enforcement agency in California is coming down on them', he paused, 'If you don't want anything to happen to them, to your brother, to Letty, to Leon, to Vince, you have to just get in that car with me right now, you have to help me'. There was a long pause and i got worried that she had just walked off, 'Mia, you are the only person that can help me right now, please Mia, please help me'.

'Jaimee, try and stall them', Brian shouted into the phone.

'Okay', was all I could manage as I closed my phone and Letty pulled up behind a large building in the middle of no where. Dom was the first out of the car. There was three rather large covered objects lined up in front and I guess they were other cars. Dom uncovered them.

'All right, we're one man short', Dom shouted, 'Letty, I need you on the left side'.

I jumped out of the car as they each started pulling out several things from they're cars. I started to shake, unsure of whether I should really be here or not.

'You're sisters right about this one, this don't feel good', Leon exclaimed, handing Dom and object you'd more or less likely to see in a robbery movie.

'Don't do that', Dom stated, looking at him. I watched Letty blow on the tool she had before she handed it to Dom.

'Something's wrong', she sighed.

'Stop!' Dom exclaimed.

'We shouldn't be doing this without Jesse', Letty finished.

'Look, this is the mother lode; we've been on this for three months. After this, it's a long vacation for everyone', Dom stated, looking each of us in the eye. 'In fact, Jaimee, take Jesse's car and take the rear', Dom stated.

'She's not ready for this, don't bring her into this', Letty snapped, stepping forward.

'We need someone there Letty, either that, or she takes your spot', Dom snapped back, both of them having a stare off.

'Care to share with me what I'm going at the rear of? To me this is all starting to sound like a Porno film', I muttered, shivering.

'A truck, just make sure he has nowhere to go if he decides to fight, okay?' Leon muttered, wrapping his arm around my shoulder, and walking me over to the spare car. 'You'll do fine', he sighed, standing by his car.

'Let's go', Dom shouted to everybody, making sure they had everything.

'I hope so', I heard Leon mutter, after repeating the fact that he deserved a long vacation after this.

'Listen, the other night I had a dream', Dome started, holding Letty, 'that you and I were on the beach in Mexico'.

'Really?' she sighed.

'Really', he repeated. 'Come on, let's make this happen'.

One by one we all got into our cars. 'Leon, keep watching those scanners', Dom ordered as Leon nodded and got into the car in front of me. I sat in the chair, belt buckled, both hands on the steering wheel, trying hard not to hyperventilate.

We were on the freeway, speeding along, no trucks or cars in sight as I reached for my phone. I was starting to find it hard to breathe. I could boost cars, but I couldn't storm a truck. I dialled in Brian's number and pressed the green phone, switching him to speaker phone.

'Hello?' he shouted into the phone.

'Brian, where the fuck are you, ain't cops supposed to be fast?' i snapped.

'Where about's are you?' he asked.

'We're getting closer and closer to the cut off point', I shouted, 'Where's Mia?'

'I'm here', she snapped.

'She's not happy I take it?' I growled, trying to drive and talk on the phone at the same time, doing the speed that I couldn't handle.

'You lied, Jaimee, you lied', she shouted.

'Mia, now's not the time', Brian snapped.

'Where are you?' I shouted, seeing a truck in the distance.

'Not far behind, we should be there soon', he shouted, causing me to notice the panic in his voice.

'Well, Hurry', I grumbled, closing the phone, hanging up on him as the truck seemed to get closer and closer by the second.

It was fully light now as we pulled up right behind the truck. Before I could even count to ten, Dom had swerved his car around the truck and was making his way to the front. The truck started swerving a lot, which must have meant that they had tried already.

I watched Vince fly from the front and swing around to smack onto the door on the right side of the cab. Dom's arm was reaching out but they couldn't get near enough unless Dom physically rammed the truck.

I could hear Letty's voice, screaming from the walkie-talkie on the chair beside me, but I couldn't focus. I watched as Dom's tyre blew. Letty's car then pulled up wide on the left of the truck again and swerved underneath it, only to come up on the right side. I swore at what happened next. The car had clipped the trucks outer tire and was spun out of control. It rolled and landed on its roof. Leon swerved around and dropped back to help.

Dom's car ahead started smoking; the truckers shot gun had hit it. Dom stopped on the side of the high way and I sped passed again, replacing Dominic at the side of the truck. I was looking at the road and the truck as I tried to wind down the window as fast as I could.

I had never seen Vince cry before, nor had I seen him that badly hurt as I grabbed the heaviest thing from the back of the car, which turned out to be a laptop and sat it on the acceleration peddle. I kept one hand on the wheel and used the other one to heave me out of the window.

Grabbing the gun hidden in the leg of my jeans, I fired at the back window, smashing it, in case when I throw him he missed the side window.

'Vince!' I shouted, trying to gain his attention as the trucker continued to fire out the door. 'Vince, I need you to reach out and grab my hand'.

'I'm trying', he shouted, reaching out. I managed to tickle his fingers with mine but the truck swerved and I swerved to avoid it before straightening up and coming up level with Vince again.

I did something I thought I'd never do as I swerved closer towards the truck and slapped my hand into Vince's. I saw him smile half heartedly as I pulled him out, towards me, now using my knee to steer; I grabbed my gun again, and aimed at the wire bending round the cab's front window.

I aimed slowly, 'Vince Duck!' I screamed as his head got in my way. He did as he was told as I aimed for the wire again, but what happened next scared the crap out of me, and I screamed. The trucker had fired the shotgun again, copping me in the arm with the full force, forcing me to drop Vince's hand and spin out of control.

My car flipped several times as I tried to get back in, but I failed and was flung loosely from the car like a rag doll. I lay there, trying my hardest not to move, or breathe for the matter as a stick stuck out of my right side.

'Fuck!' I shouted eventually, the pain finally catching up with me. I managed to open my eyes in time to see an orange flash speed passed after the truck. 'Brian'.

I started coughing slightly, more like hiccuping as I heard gravel crunch not far away.

'Jaimee!' I heard someone shout, but I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore, they were too heavy. 'Jaimee!'

'Dom!' Leon shouted, getting in his car with the blown out wheel and speeding off after the orange car. 'They got Vince of the truck', Leon said shakily as he saw a bright orange speck in the distance and a few people standing around further back from it.

'That's good', I said softly, trying to breathe.

'Just hang in there, we'll get you home, we'll get you home', Leon muttered, brushing my fringe constantly out of my eyes.

'Leon, hand me your phone', I muttered, gripping to his shirt with my blood soaked hand.

'What for?' he asked, pulling it out.

'Call Brian', I sighed, feeling weak.

'What...?' he started.

'Call Brian', I snapped, wincing.

'Okay', he replied, dialling a number, 'Brian, man, Jaimee's fucked', Leon paused, 'She told me to call you'. Leon slammed his phone closed, looking down at me.

'Well?' I spluttered.

'He said he's coming', Leon smiled, tears coming to his eyes, 'just hang in there, just try and hang in there'.

'Leon?' I smiled, painfully.

'Yeah?' he asked.

'I'm not going anywhere', I laughed, coughing and spluttering, but none the less trying to make the best of an ugly situation. My eyelids shut themselves again as I started to shiver. I was beginning to feel a little cliché as I heard a loud noise from above.

'Down here', Leon started shouting, waving his arms at god knows what. 'They're here, baby, they're here, you'll be fine', he shouted, waving his hands over my head trying to figure out how he could help.

'Leon?' I muttered, coughing.

'Yeah, what's up, are you all right?' he asked quickly, obviously not used to situations like this.

'I need you to do me a favour, all right, I need you to promise me to do what I say no matter what, okay?' I snapped, as he started looking at me as if I was mad. He just shook his head, gaping like a fish, 'Got it?'

'Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever you say', he gasped, looking at me, pushing my fringe out of my barely open eyes.

'I need you to apply some pressure in the middle back of my neck, okay?' I asked, looking at him. He nodded, trying to close his mouth as he lifted my head slightly and pushed into the back of my neck. I flinched as pain shot down my leg.

'What did that do?' he asked, me huffing.

'To see whether I had damaged my back', I smiled, sighing, before coughing. 'Now, I need you to pull me off this stick', I sighed.

'What?!' he asked, screaming now. 'You're crazy'.

'If you want me to live, you need to, Leon, you need to get me off this stick so the medics can take me straight away, okay?' I tried to explain.

'No, you'll bleed to death', he shouted, defiantly.

'Leon, if you don't pull me off this stick, I swear to god I will haunt you if I die', I snapped angrily, the picture of myself dying at the back of my mind.

'No', he cried, 'I can't do it'.

'Leon, you promised to do what I said, no matter what, Leon, please', I cried, tears forming, 'I don't want to die, please, just...please'.

'I'm so sorry', he sobbed, as he placed a hand between my shoulders and underneath my legs before heaving upwards slowly.

'TEAR!' I shouted, as he tore upwards, tearing the stick out of me causing me to scream. I heard him asking me questions but I couldn't see, I couldn't hear, the only thing I could feel was my side splitting, tearing a apart.

More people arrived, and I was being lifted onto a stretcher bed and being carried off towards a slowly pounding note of noise.

'Jaimee!' I heard someone shout. 'Jaimee!'

'She's only just torn the outside skin of her left side, we've applied over ninety stitches, and patched up her grazes and cleaned her up', I heard the doctor outside whisper.

'Jaimee?' I heard someone whisper. It was Letty.

'Hey', I smiled, turning my head painfully to look at her, 'How's your neck?'

'My necks fine, how's yours?' she laughed softly, a sad look flooding her eyes.

'Fine, just a little bruised', I smiled. 'Doctor says I can go home tomorrow, but with a lot of rest'.

'That's good', Letty sighed.

'I thought you'd be gone, by now', I sighed.

'Mia's packing some stuff', Letty muttered.

'How's Vince?' I asked, trying to stop the awkward silence that was bound to happen.

'He's broken his arm and has a few stitches on his right side, but, he's fine', Letty smiled. 'Brian saved his life'.

'I know', I smiled back. 'Leon saved mine'.

'Jaimee...' Letty started, taking hold of my hand.

'Hm?' I cocked an eyebrow at her as she shook her head, kissing my forehead before leaving. 'Letty?!'

I was left sitting there for over an hour before someone came in, and it was the last person I thought I'd ever see. 'Jaimee, we've got to get out of here', he exclaimed, jogging into the room and pulling down the blankets of the bed I was laying in.

'Why, Brian, what's going on?' I winced as he placed an arm around me and helped me out of the bed.

'Aiding and Abetting a criminal, that's why', he sighed, throwing me my pants that were folded in a cupboard beside my bed.

'But we...' I started, but I looked at him. 'We were on the same case, so what you do, I get slapped with too', I sighed as he nodded.

'We've got to go fast, they'll be on there way here', he grumbled, adjusting the bag he had on his shoulder while helping me slip my shirt on.

'What about?' I muttered, indicating to my side. He just pointed at the bag and expected me to be understand, I just nodded my head and slipped my shoes on, walking out of the room in Brian's arms.

We managed to sign myself out, quickly thanks to Brian using his police number that hadn't been set off yet, and made our way outside to the drop off pick up area. There sat... actually I couldn't figure out what car it was as he opened the door and eased me in. he slammed the door shut, and jumped into the drivers seat, throwing the bag behind him.

I looked behind my seat and found it packed with my bag, his bag and the medicine bag.

'You planned it, didn't you?' I asked looking at him.

'No, I didn't, when I raced back to Dom's place, Mia was waiting with a bag, she said it was yours and to look into the very front pocket when I picked you up', Brian whispered, focusing on the road.

'Thanks', I mumbled, reaching my good arm around the back of the chair, unzipping the front pocket of the bag and pulled out a piece of paper, it felt more like a photo. I pulled it round in front of me. It was a photo, a photo of all of us when I came to visit them the first time. I was about nine then. We were all smiling, standing out the front of Dom's place.

'I'm going to miss them', I sighed, hugging it to myself as Brian drove out of Los Angeles.

We headed across states till we reached home, Arizona. We gambled in a few races along the way, gaining some cash to keep us going a little further. We couldn't do more than one race in the same spot; once the cops got word of our appearance they had every cop they could spare out looking for the both of us.

We only managed one nights sleep the whole way. Sharing driving duties along the way so that we could at least regain some energy as we drove. We stopped at a diner real quick to catch a bight to eat. Brian turned the paper over and saw a picture of Brian and me in the paper. A bold title saying: "Alleged Fugitive's, Undercover Cop's, Still Missing". I slammed it down quickly, gave the waitress my order before being on guard the rest of the time. There was a girl sitting in a booth behind me, she kept smiling at Brian and glancing every now and then.

I tensed and winced as two cops walked in, radio mentioning what we had just read in the paper; Me and also Brian. I hid my face from them as they sat on the stools beside us. I noticed the girl looking at Brian funny before Brian grabbed my jacket and slid out of the booth, indicating for me to follow, before speeding off, just wanting to get out of there.

We managed to stay at another hotel, and I was watching the news, and guess who came up? Brian. A picture of him with the title recent sighting was sitting in front of me on the TV. I slipped on a shirt and woke Brian up before grabbing our stuff and exiting the room. We headed towards where I had parked the car when we found it surrounded by cops. Brian rushed backwards, myself after him, only to run into the girl from the diner.

We had no car and we had no friends close by, so we were forced to hike our way out until we could hitch a ride with a passer-by. Just our luck as a convertible slowed down as Brian stuck his arm out. I was thankful as I jumped in before looking at the driver. It was the girl from the diner and the motel. She took off, smiling and flirting with Brian, just as two cop cars came speeding down the freeway.

The girl took us as far as a San Antonio car dealership. I smiled and thanked her as I got out of the car, noticing the rustling of a newspaper as Brian stepped out. I looked down and found the newspaper article about Brian and myself sitting there. I looked back at her and she just shrugged her shoulders before I grabbed my bag from the back seat and walked into the dealership.

Brian bought a car and we took off, paying the cash before we did so. I worked at a garage in Texarkana, fixing up the car, giving it a new paint job. It was my knight in shining silver Armour. We took off, paying the garage owner as we headed down the interstate.

It was Brian's turn to drive as we came across two motorbike riders, memories of Jesse coming back to me as I looked at them. Brian challenged them to a race. They "humbly" accepted, speeding off, thinking they would win it easy. We passed them up a few miles down the track, of course not by speeding; the cops, for reckless endangerment of others, had picked them up.

Further interstate Brian and myself dabbled in a few more races, making a fool of them all, relaxing, and for the first time since we started running, forgot all about the cops. I was smiling as I flogged the gangster fool, whipped his chocolate ass. He paid me the cash and after every race, I held my hand out, and he reluctantly shook it. I mean, who wants to remember the fact that they had they're ass flogged by a girl.

We came up to an intersection almost forty miles down the track. New York, or Miami, I looked from the sign to Brian who had just woken beside me. He just pointed to a road and I followed it. By now I wasn't that worried about the cops, none so far had taken a double look at me, nor had I seen any more television ads with our faces on it, or newspapers. We were finally free.

I pulled up in Miami not far away from the beach and I smiled at all the guys and girls walking passed, till my sights were set on the cars across the road. They revved there engines and turned the corner, myself not far behind.


	6. Chapter 6

The atmosphere was amazing. Motorbikes racing up and down the lines of cars. It was way better than the event in Los Angeles. Although there was slightly less scantly clad women, and the atmosphere grew with more and more tension as a crew went round to every street leading to the main and closed it off.

'Yo, Jimmy man, give me the status, tell me we good?' Tej asked into his mobile.

'You got it, man', the guy called Jimmy on the other end shouted.

'Beautiful', Tej smirked, 'It's gonna be an all-timer tonight'. Walking out of the little garage he stepped out onto the street. 'All right, all right, all right, fire them up', he exclaimed, hands up in the air, raising the hype. 'We go live in five', he put his hands down and walked into the crowd, 'It's time for ignition and straight automobile pimpin'.

The racers were edging closer to sanity as they prepped themselves and their cars for the race. Slap Jack, one racer with a gold car, sat on the hood as his girl took off his jacket and tore the comb out of his fro.

'Girl', he said angrily.

'Sorry. My bad!' she answered defensively.

To the left of the little drama spit, another racer, Suki, was prepping her car. She walked along the driver's side, cloth in hand, wiping any specs of dust she was hard pressed to find. The car was sparkling pink.

'All right, Ladies! We're good', she shouted happily as the ladies wiped the bright pink spoiler, 'We're good'.

The last racer was an egotistic male pig, Julius. He was walking up to the girls in tight white pants that were wiping his red car.

'That's it, babies', he said, pinching the crack of their asses. He continued to speak Spanish as he turned around. 'Come on, Tej! Let's get this race going'.

'Whoa, whoa, man. Wait a second!' Tej ordered as he walked between two of the racers cars. 'You cats are first wave. Where's you're forth at?'

'Yo, yo, it was Joaquin, but he had to work the graveyard shift', Slap Jack said still sitting on his hood.

'What?' Tej exclaimed in a loud whisper, 'Graveyard shift, man'.

'Yo, why don't you run with us, Tej?' Slap Jack offered, stepping away from his car.

'Hell no, I'm not running with y'all, man', Tej said, causing the guys to smirk, 'I tell you what, either you find a fourth, or you don't race. How about that?'

'We should find two, so we don't have to roll with skirt here', Julius laughed, saying something rather insulting to Suki.

'Idiota', she returned scathingly as everybody 'Ooh'd around them. Julius argued back, in Spanish and they continued to argue.

'Whoa, wait a second', Tej muttered, stopping the fight before it got ugly, 'Why don't I just find y'all a fourth, and we settle this on the streets?'

'Bring him on', Suki smirked.

'Anybody I want?' Tej asked, with a knowing smile. Julius said something incoherent so Tej continued. 'No matter who it is?'

'Yeah', Slap Jack said calmingly. Tej smiled and walked backwards away from the pack, pulling out his phone and dialling the number he had in his head to begin with. He turned away from them.

'You all right?' Brian whispered as we lay uncomfortably together in bed. It wasn't uncomfortable because he was there, tonight was just a night we both had things on our minds that wouldn't seem to go away.

'I'm fine', I muttered in reply, rolling onto my back so that I was able to talk with him. 'You?'

'I'm a little confused', he sighed, rolling onto his back too.

'Why?' I said aloud now, not bothering to cover my voice. We were both awake and nobody was listening in.

'We're still here', he snapped, sitting up, throwing his legs over the side of the bed.

'And?' I asked, a little confused. He could sense it too.

'Exactly my point', and he stood up, 'we…well I did all those things, and they have yet to find us?'

'It happens, Brian, it happens', I tried, standing up and walking round to his side of the bed and standing in front of him. 'If it's the way the world works, who are we to argue; I mean seriously, do you want to be caught?'

'No', he sighed, and I placed my hand on his shoulders.

'Okay, shut up then', I said out of the blue. He looked at me awkwardly, 'Don't jinx it, is what I meant'.

'Oh', he smiled, wrapping his arms around me and giving me a hug. This was often a regular thing. One or both of us would be annoyed at something; the other would come along and cure things. It usually ended up with both of us back in the bed, but for some reason, tonight we both didn't feel like it.

'I'm going to have a shower', I muttered, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before walking into the bathroom. I got onto the shower and just stood there. I was thinking back to Letty and her face, how much I might have hurt her, whether or not she was worried about me. I shook out of that as I heard give up the grudge by gob playing somewhere. My phone was ringing.

'Here', Brian muttered stick his arm through the door, my phone in hand. I flicked off the shower and wrapped a towel around me before taking the phone off of him.

'Yo', I answered.

'Yeah, man. You want to race tonight?' Tej asked me as I smiled.

'Yeah, you know I could use the money', I answered, walking out into the room, the towel wrapped around me. Brian groaned knowing who I was talking to, before giving me a look that said "No!"

'You got four minutes, man', Tej smiled.

'All right, I'll be there', I answered hurriedly. Tej laughed before we hung up. I raced around the boat-house, picking up underwear and shit, along with a pair of jeans.

'What are you doing?' Brian yawned, watching me run around.

'Race', I mumbled, as he just shook his head and did his own running around. I was pulling socks on while Brian slipped a pair of underwear on then a pair of jeans. As we ran out the door we grabbed a shirt each and slipped them on before jumping into the car.

Soft rock music met my ears as I raced towards my destination. A combination of music told me people were showing of the shit they had.

I sped through Traffic, passing cars, swerving to avoid them, trying desperately to get to my destination in time. It took longer than four minutes, I knew that. Maybe five and a half, but I was there. I finally reached the place I needed to be. Revving my car, I got everybody to move, to make my way to the line. Smoke pelting itself from the side of my car, making people cheer and back away a little more.

'Yeah', Tej said, taking out his comb and nodding with a smile, 'there's our fourth'.

'Shit', Suki swore, 'Its James'.

I pulled up beside Julius and he just laughed at me. I revved my engine a few more times before stepping out to a crowd of respect. Wasn't that what I had asked for back in Los Angeles?

'What's up, Tej?' I smiled, walking over to the guy that had saved my ass. When we first arrived in Miami. He had been the one Brian and I were tailing.

'What's happening, dude?' Tej laughed as we bumped our fists together.

'Thanks for the invite', I smiled, looking behind him.

'No problem at all man', He smiled, 'Just uh, just remember me when you wax, all right?'

'They got deep pockets?' I asked; smiling and turning the back of my head a little so that only Tej and I were in the conversation. He laughed at me a little.

'Real deep', he answered with a smile.

'What's up, Suki?' I addressed her as I turned around with a laugh.

'What's up, Bullit?' she smiled, doing the "brother" nod. I turned to Brian who had found a seat on the hood of my car, and he just shrugged as a few girls made there way over to him. I just laughed softly before turning back to the other racers.

'What do you say we kick it a nickel?' I asked, looking at them all. Julius said something in a different language, before finally saying what he meant.

'Nobody mentioned anything about raising the stakes'; he said annoyed. I sidled over to him, no smile apparent on my features, but no harm on them either.

'Well, if that's the case, why don't you ask these nice people here to back off the line so you can go home', I said calmly as the crowed boo'd. Julius turned around and made a gesture with his hand to tell the crowd to shut up.

'Ok', he said after Tej sidled up to stand next to me, 'Thirty five large'. He pulled out the cash and slammed it in Tej left hand. I slammed the amount in Tej's right as he moved over to the others. I walked back over to my car.

'Thirty five large, huh?' Slap Jack asked.

'Either that, or you can go home', Tej said simply before adding, 'Bruh'.

'It's all there', he said before slapping the cash in Tej's hand and walking round to the driver's door.

'Better be', Tej muttered before heading over to Suki in her car.

'Damn, Suki, when are you gonna pop my clutch?' he asked, rubbing his chin. Suki slapped the money into his hand with a smile.

'As soon as you get the right set of tools', she smiled as he leant off of her car.

'Yeah, alright', he said walking off.

I stood by my door as the crowd cheered for me. I looked around as I saw a girl in the crowd; she looked a little familiar. She wasn't moving or anything. She had her arms crossed and was staring right at me. I stared at her as I grabbed the door handle, tilted it up, opened the door and got in. I was still looking out my open window at her, before she smiled, turned and walked away.

'She looked a little suss', Brian teased, jumping in the car beside me, tightening his seat belt. Since leaving Los Angeles Brian had been in the car with me during every race I was in. He seemed to bring me good luck.

'All right, back up, back up', Tej said waving his hands backwards, 'Let's go, let's go'. I smiled to myself as no one backed up, so I revved up my car and blew a burst of flames from the exhaust. 'Yeah, back y'all Asses up! Back up! Before you turn into a barbecue around here. It's not a game. This is serious'.

I could feel Déjà vu coming a long as I felt Suki look down the line and then look back to the road ahead. The same with Slap Jack, and of course, Julius, he looked at me and I did the one thing to piss him off. I cracked my neck.

Suki revved her car and threw her fist up in the air as her crew cheered. She never said anything. Ever. She just revved her car and threw her hand in the air. It was her ritual.

'Go, Slap Jack, go baby', shouted Slap Jack's girlfriend from the sidelines as he adjusted his rear view mirror.

'I got this', he muttered.

Julius muttered something in Spanish and kissed his necklace. These were all traditions for them to do before a race. My traditions…visualize the win.

'Ready?' Tej yelled to Suki as she revved her car in response. 'Ready?' he yelled to Slap Jack as he revved his response. 'Ready?' Tej yelled to Julius as he gripped his steering wheel and revved. 'Ready?' Tej yelled at me as I revved my engine, anticipation going through my mind. 'GO!'

Wheels screeching we all took off, Slapjack and I tied for lead. Switching gears I stayed level with Slapjack till he sped off ahead. All that mattered at this point to me as staying ahead of the two behind me, Suki and Julius. I was tailgating slapjack; it was all I could do. My eyes wondered everywhere but on the road in front of me. I was looking for a way round.

I managed to get up beside him, taking the lead slightly, until it came for the sharp turn. I watched him shout something as he went down a gear to swerve the corner. He managed to slip out front as I continued to tailgate him again. If I swerved to fake coming up left, he'd block my right and when I actually did go left, he'd block that too. I continued swerving just to see if he left a spot open for me, but he didn't.

'Watcha got man?' I muttered as I was still swerving. I came up beside him as we came up to the final turn. He slammed on his breaks and went down a gear to swerve it. it didn't look good so far as to whether I was going to be able to pass Slapjack, so I went straight back to finding an open window.

I had finally chosen a side of the road and stuck to it as we came up to the last turn. I had looked in my rear-view mirror before and watched Suki ass rape Julius. But my focus was now set back on Slapjack. He slammed his foot on the break and went down another gear and swung out around it.

'Too wide', I smiled as I swerved on the inside and came out in sync with him. I went up a gear and stayed beside him as he looked at me and did a double take. I kept my eye on him and nodded at him as he looked over, before going back up a gear and speeding into the lead.

'Home stretch, baby', I shouted in triumph as I went up another gear. I was smiling wider than normal, but that soon disappeared, as Slapjack hit his NOS and whizzed straight passed me. I went up another gear, tailgating him again as the bridge came into sight. I gained a little more speed and came in line with the back end of his car.

'Bridge', I wheezed.

'No shit', Brian growled. Slapjack hit his last shot of NOS just to make it over the bridge. We were almost two hundred metres away before I hit both shots of NOS at the same time. I came right up slapjacks ass as we both went over the bridge, slapjack falling and me flying right over the top of him. Sparks flew as I geared control and sped straight through to win the race.

I didn't slow down as I reached the crowd, but I got that close I almost hit one, so I slammed on the brakes and swung the ass end around to come to a stand still. I got out smoothly and looked over at Suki as she pulled up. I gave her the "brother" nod and got a nod in response before looking over at Tej and smiling.

'Tell you saw that, ya'll. Bullet and Suki sprayed the bridge', Tej stated pulling the money out of his pocket as he headed over to me. 'I need to start making y'all pay to see this shit', he exclaimed. 'Now I got over ten stat for my girl right here', he said holding the cash in the air. 'That's what I'm talking about, man', he said slapping the cash into my hand. 'Play with it'.

'Yeah, how about that right there?' I smiled, slapping a thousand into his hand.

'Y'all see this. Take a good look, this is what you call mutual respect', he said holding the cash up I just gave him. 'All right, let's clear out'. I laughed at him as he walked away.

I spotted the girl watching me again, and headed over, people congratulating me on the way. I stood in front of her and she just laughed and walked away.

'Hey, where are you going?' I asked, following her till she turned around.

'It's time to get out of here', she smiled, as I laughed.

'Why is that?' I asked getting my answer as a siren sounded. I looked at the cop car and bolted towards my car, the girl just standing there then walking off calmly.

Everybody was racing in every direction making it hard to find an exit.

'There, take that', Brian shouted, pointing out an exit and did I ever take it. I raced down there, double clutching whenever I could. I raced down an empty street, only to swear a moment later as I played chicken with a cop car. I swerved to the right and it to the left. It swung its ass end around and followed me like the rest of the cop cars.

I raced around a corner and then another, watching the cop car hit a parked car as it went round the second. The racer's cars sped passed him one by one and I couldn't help but laugh in triumph. That slowly diminished as I headed around another corner to come face to face with a cop holding a rather large weapon.

'Shit', Brian and I swore in unison as I swerved round the cop, but no luck. He fired something onto my car, electricity surging through all my systems, shutting them down, one by one, finally forcing me up onto the curb, knocking over a parking meter. 'Damn it!' I sat there pissed off as the police came over, weapons drawn.

'Let me see your hands', one shouted, gun pointed at my head. 'Put 'em up'. I slowly, and rather pissed off, might I add, raised my hands off of the steering wheel, not looking at either one of them. Finally I got so angry I stared at the one that had talked to me first, I was livid.


	7. Chapter 7

An hour or two had gone by and I found myself sitting uncomfortably in a police interrogation room, hands cuffed behind my back. They had dragged Brian off to another room, I wasn't sure where.

'So…' Markham, one cop, started, 'How long have you been in south Florida?'

'A while', I answered calmly, looking up at him.

'Before that?' Markham continued. I didn't answer him, which made him open a file and slam it down on table. 'We know your James Mortimer, formerly of the LAPD', Markham said.

'You got the wrong girl'; I answered. Markham slapped the file closed.

'Really?' he asked with a look of disinterest. A knock on the door sounded and my curiosity got the better of me as I looked over at it. A shot of disappointment shot through me as I saw Bilkins.

'How you doing, Mortimer?' he asked us, walking in, his face grave. 'Let's take a walk', he muttered, slapping me on the shoulder. Markham threw him the keys and I stood up and followed Bilkins out of the room. He had walked me up on to the roof of the customs office, unlocking my chains while he sighed.

'So, did you really think we wouldn't find you?' Bilkins asked as I rubbed my wrist. 'Well, why'd you let him go?' he paused as I didn't answer, 'In LA, I mean'. I sighed and headed over to the rails, thinking of how to word it.

'You wouldn't understand', I stated sternly. How do you tell someone that it wasn't you?

'Ah, it's pretty common really', Bilkins said behind me, 'An agent goes dark on their first undercover job; it's a little bit of the Stockholm syndrome'.

'You got the girl at the races'; I stated still not looking to him, avoiding the topic of LA.

'What?' he yelled, not sure of what I meant.

'You got the girl at the race', I shouted, turning back to him, 'Damn', I cursed, 'I knew she didn't belong there'.

'Well', Bilkins started, 'You still think like a cop'.

'So what do you want?' I asked him looking back out at the traffic below.

'What makes you think I want something?' Bilkins asked calmly.

'Because she was scouting me, and instead of arresting me, we are standing on a roof top', I yelled, as Bilkins took a couple of steps towards me. I could hear his footsteps.

'I want you to drive', he stated. I turned back to him, confused.

'Carter Verone', Markham pronounced as the information for the said person flashed up onto the large screen. We were in the briefing room. 'Born in Argentina, but he's lived most of his life in Miami. Now he owns the biggest import-export business in the state'. He was telling us all this, and I had no idea why, but I was very bored. 'Unfortunately, the cartels have been successful getting drugs into Miami, but they've had a hard time getting the cash out', Markham continued. 'We've been surveying him for years, but we've never been able to put the money and him together. We've swept his house, warehouse…'

'Nothing', Bilkins interrupted, 'Customs here has done a great job of getting us this far. I'm just here to help them get him over the top'.

'I was able to get an agent in undercover, working travel and logistics for him. Recently Verone's put her in charge of finding new drivers', Markham said seriously.

'Right, although we can't confirm her status right now', Bilkins continued. I looked back at him.

'You think he's flipped?' I asked as Markham interrupted.

'She's one of mine. She's alright', Markham exclaimed angrily.

'She's been in with Verone for a year. Even lives at the compound with him', Bilkins added.

'Look. It was the FBI's idea to bring you in', Markham explained, 'I'm against it'. I tilted my head at him. 'But we need good drivers to put this asshole and his money together', he placed his hands together as he spoke. 'You're going to roll with Agent Dunn here', he added pointing over to the guy standing to the side, sipping a large drink.

'And if I don't?' I asked, rubbing my chin in slight interest, looking from Agent Dunn to the picture of Carter Verone on the screen.

'Well, here's the list of law's you broke in L.A', Bilkins stated, handing me a file over my shoulder. 'Obstruction of Justice, aiding and abetting, you know the rap sheet', he added calmly. 'We can make this all go away in the interest of justice…if you're willing to play ball'.

'So what's the idea here?' I asked, flipping through the sheets in the file, 'Dunn and I are supposed to be street racers?'

'That's right!' Markham answered. I looked over at "agent" Dunn just as he took a sip from his oversized cup.

'So, Dunn…' I started, standing up and walking over to him, 'Looks like we're going to be partners, bro', I smiled, shaking his hand. I couldn't help myself, I had to test him, 'Could you tell me right quick, what would be a better motor for my skyline, a Gallo twelve, or a Gallo twenty-four?' Dunn looked over at Markham before looking back at me and answering.

'Um, twenty-four', he answered simply, obviously pleased with himself. I was a girl, so any answer that he thought he had right, made him feel extra special.

'I didn't know pizza places made motors', I added smiling slightly as Dunn looked at his cup. 'See man, come on, I can't do this' I added looking at Bilkins then to Markham.

'I mean, seriously, if this is what you'll give me, I may as well take my chances in Chino', I walked back to my seat, Dunn still looking dumbfounded as Markham snatched the cup away.

'We'll get someone else', Bilkins acknowledged.

'No way, man', I muttered, flopping into my seat. 'The only way I'll do this is if I get to pick the driver'. Bilkins sighed behind me and I looked forward seriously.

'All right, O'Connor, who you got in mind?' he asked me as my mind switched to one person, and one person only.

'This guy I worked with…' I started, looking up at Dunn, 'in Los Angeles'.

'Who's that?' Bilkins asked out of interest.

'Brian O'Connor'.

We were driving along the freeway and I felt my chair knock forward ever so slightly, every now and then. Brian was annoying the shit out of me.

'Here we are', Bilkins muttered, pulling up in front of customs. We all slowly got out, Bilkins and I walking in the door till I noticed Brian wasn't following.

'Wait, hold up', I muttered to Bilkins as I walked back and came to stand beside him. 'Hey, man, what's going on?'

'I dunno if we should be doing this', he sighed, staring at me.

'Just think of it this way…' I started, getting his attention, 'It's an opportunity for a fresh start. Let's just go do this all right', I finished turning back towards the building.

'I wouldn't need a fresh start if it wasn't for you', he said, making me stop, turn around, livid and come back to stand next to him.

'I didn't tell you to let him go, did I? Last time I checked, you made that decision by yourself while I was laying in a hospital bed', I snapped, 'So just chill out'.

'I don't need to chill out', Brian sighed, looking at my guiltily.

'Yes you do. And you need to stop blaming me for your mistakes', I stated, poking two fingers into his upper chest, 'and Brian O'Connor needs to start taking responsibility for his own actions'.

'You need to go to hell', he laughed, mimicking me by poking me back.

'And you need to go back to jail', I exclaimed, hugging him to me.

'I'm not going back to jail', he muttered under his breath, hugging me back. Sighing, I ruffled his hair and led the way inside after Bilkins. We walked through the hallways till we came to the warehouse. 'So now what?'

'Brian O'Connor', stated a man as he walked over to us. 'I was expecting someone with cut of sleeves, tattoo's, I mean we went through all this trouble getting him a job that a real man should be doing', Markham stopped in front of us. I couldn't help but chuckle as Brian just glared. 'Where's the dog collar I've heard so much about?' that was where I lost it, I started laughing, my hand over my mouth. I stopped after awhile and smiled at Markham. 'Don't smile at me, Mortimer'.

Brian and I stood there, side-by-side just as a blue truck was backing in. It screeched to a halt and the driver got out, just as the back door was sliding up. There stood the mysterious woman from the race.

'James Mortimer, Brian O'Connor, meet Monica Fuentes', Markham introduced.

'Do they have background on Verone?' she asked.

'They've been briefed', Bilkins answered as Monica jumped out of the truck.

'Good', she started, walking over to us, 'All right, here's the deal, Verone's looking for drivers. I arranged for both of you to join up. I've also hired some thugs to make it legit'.

'When do we start?' asked Brian beside me, kind of dreamy eyed.

'Right now', she answered.

'What are we driving?' I asked, looking back at Markham and Bilkins. We turned around to find two people uncovering cars. Brian held his hand on my stomach stopping me from moving.

'Are we calling shotgun?' Brian said with a laugh, throwing his bag in the back of the Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder convertible.

'I didn't think you'd get a boner over a car, you're not the type', I answered, smiling, looking over at the apple green Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 7.

'Check in with us after you meet him', Bilkins said as he walked away from me. I just smiled and looked at him, before my ears found a conversation going on between Markham and Monica.

'You think your gonna be okay with these two knuckleheads?' Markham asked her.

'I can handle them', Monica replied.

'If they give you any trouble at all, let me know', he sated before turning away.

'Thanks Markham', Monica said before turning to us. She walked over and tapped the hood of my car before opening passenger door. 'I'll ride with you'; she said getting in.

'Hey?' Brian argued as I laughed.

'I'm prettier', I laughed at him as he just shook his head and got into the convertible.

'She feels sympathy', Brian muttered softly, but I heard it.

'You get the convertible', Monica stated over to Brian, 'Let's go'. We drove off of the base site and onto some back roads. 'Turn right here', she muttered as I whipped right, Brian following with ease.

'So you used to be a cop?' she asked me as I just kept my eyes on the road, not really wanting to relive me days as a liar.

'Yeah', I muttered, 'How long you been under?'

'I lost track', she said gravely as I just nodded and kept glancing at her before keeping my eyes on the road.

'You all right?' I asked her, out of concern.

'You might want to keep your eyes on the road', she smiled as I scoffed.

'What, you think we're going to crash?' I asked with a laugh as I turned to look at her.

'I haven't decided yet', she answered simply, smiling. She turned to me and I kept my eyes on hers as I planted my foot on the pedal. I could feel the vibration of the engine, so I took a stab that I had gone over a hundred on the speedometer. I stopped suddenly as we came up to an intersection. She just laughed at me as Brian pulled up to my right.

'She did the "stare and drive" on you, didn't she?' Brian asked as I laughed, 'She got that from me'.

We continued on our way as we finally reached the spot where the other drivers were waiting to be briefed. We pulled up on the side of the road, and all three of us got out. I watched one of the guys tap his friend and point to me. If it wasn't for the fact that I really needed to get this, I would've beat the shit out of him, right here, right now.

'Hey, where'd you get those cars?' he called out as I turned to glare at him, but he continued, 'the bottom of a cereal box?'

Brian just chuckled beside me and gave the guy a thumbs up, 'Hey', he laughed, 'Real funny, Fonzie'. He sighed before facing me, 'Ass'.

Two big bald guys whistled at us from the drive way as I slapped Brian. 'Let's go, man', I muttered before we got closer.

'I got this', he said calmly.

'No, I'm serious', I said quietly as he just shrugged slightly.

'You handle your business, I'll handle mine', he said simply, neither of us looking at each other the whole time. We reached the driveway and they were searching us for weapons.

'All right?' Brian said angrily from beside me as the guy tapped him all over. He moved onto me with a smile and had no problem tapping me every which and where. He winked at me before we walked further into the compound.

'Stay here', one of the bald guys cursed before walking off. Brian and I stayed at the back of the pack. Verone walked up and stood at the top of the stairs.

'Thank you all for coming on such short notice', he said simply, as I stuff my hands in my pockets. 'My red Ferrari was confiscated yesterday', he continued, 'and it sits in an impound lot in Little Haiti. It's about twenty miles from here. The car isn't important, what is important is the package I left in the glove box'. I looked at Brian oddly as Verone continued. 'The first team back here with the package, will have an opportunity to work for me'.

'What are you saying?' a guy up the front asked, 'we gotta audition?'

'Nobody's got a gun to your head', Verone said in a rather bored voice as he looked around, 'That's it', he muttered before walking away. Everybody just stood around, looking at each other.

'Driver's licenses, pass them up', Monica shouted, holding her hands high in the air, 'Before Christmas guys', she shouted as everybody handed in there licenses. The Hench men said something in Spanish before shouting go. So I ran. Brian and I coming out second in the pack as the Spanish guy I wanted to kill rushed off first. We got to our cars and were the first to take off.

I coming out first, Brian right up my ass as we lead the way down the highway. I dodged traffic making sure no-one got passed me, Brian just following.

'Alright, let's see what this thing can do', I exclaimed to myself as I double clutched and went round a truck. I looked in my rear-view mirror to see Brian swerving all over the place. 'Come on, stick with me Brian, watcha got'.

I continued to lead till Brian came up on my left. I laughed at him as he gave me the finger and started to rotate it. I laughed harder as I remembered a come back people used to use when I was back in school.

'Smart-ass', I laughed as he whipped in front of me quickly just as we went between two mover trucks. I saw him look back and laugh at me. 'Oh yeah, you think you're the bomb, Brian?' I laughed out as I double clutched again. I tailed Brian for a quarter of a mile before I hatched a plan.

'All right, I got something for your ass', I muttered as I pulled up to his bumper and then whipped right round him. 'Watch this bro', I smiled as I sped a fair way in front of him before pulling on the hand brake and whipping around to face him. I pulled the hand brake off and began to reverse.

'Yeah Brian, how do you like them apples?' I shouted out the window to him as I gave him the finger. 'That's the James Mortimer School of Driving right there, Baby!'

'Show off!' Brian shouted at me as I kept looking behind me. I was just about to reverse passed the turn off, but I noticed it just in time as I swerved around and took the turn off. We served the corner and it was a straight path from here on in. Brian came up beside me as we sped through a small neighbour hood. A Rastafarian was standing in the middle of the road as Brian and I went straight passed him.

We had reached the impound lot. Bursting through the gates we found no cars, but found heaps and heaps of boats, not exactly what we were looking for. We raced in and out of the rows of boats searching for the car that would bring us our freedom.

'Stinking boats, where are the cars?' I murmured as we continued to search. A forklift was lowering a boat right in front of me and I had Brian beside me so I couldn't swerve it. I sped up a little and managed to speed through just before the gap became too small to squeeze through. 'Come on, I need the cars, where are the cars at', I continued to myself as I looked desperately for the Ferrari.

It wasn't till we were fifty metres from it that we noticed the bright red Ferrari, standing alone in the middle of a boat yard. I planted my foot on the brake and I swerved around just as Brian did the same and we both came to a halt a short way away from the car we were searching for.

We both got out, Brian taking his short off and rapping it around his fist. We stepped up to the car and I was about to say something but Brian just thrust his fist through the glass window. I reached down and lifted the handle as the door popped open. I got in and searched the glove box but found nothing.

'Look in the centre', Brian muttered as I looked back at him.

'What?' I asked, before opening the glove box in the centre console and pulled out a fresh yellow envelope. 'Cha-ching'. I smiled as I got up out of the car and said 'Now put your blouse back on', before I headed back over to the cars.

'Hater', he said rather girly. He slipped it on and followed me back just as Fabio and Fonzie pulled up. 'Shit!'

I held up the yellow envelope and tilted my head back at them with a smirk, as I saw them lean over to each other in their respected cars. I wasn't worried.

'Ha, Ha, Ha, sit on it Fonzie', Brian laughed, just as police sirens from behind me.

'What the hell?' I shouted as I turned to face them as they got out, guns out, shielding them selves with their doors.

'What the hell are they doing here?' Brian cursed as he pulled out his gun and started firing upon them. He popped one of their tires and I jumped into my car and pulled out, Brian not far behind. We managed to stop the cops from following us as we made our way back to Verone's place.


	8. Chapter 8

We pulled up in the driveway, Verone himself coming out to meet us as I stepped out and held the envelope to him.

'Hey, man. You got something to eat up in there?' Brian yelled out to him as I looed back at him, 'We hungry'. Verone just smirked and whispered something to Monica.

'Nice. Come on', she said, tilting his head towards the direction Verone was going. I smiled and followed as Brian rushed up beside me.

'What you checking her out for?' I whispered to him as he turned to me shocked.

'I'm not checking her out'; he answered sternly. I didn't say anything till we were standing near our respective seats near the pool.

'Yes you were', I said out of nowhere.

'No, I wasn't', he answered gravely.

'I seen you checking her out', I continued as he sighed.

'Shut up', he said sternly.

'You shut up'; I retaliated. 'Tell me to shut up', I said, as I crossed my arms and looked at him.

'Both you girlies shut up. Unbelievable', Monica stated as she sat down, Brian and I not far after.

'You sure are cosy in this big old mansion, sleeping with the enemy', Brian muttered to her coldly. I turned to Monica with the weirdest look on my face, finding it hard for a girl like her to have sex with a bony guy like Verone. I went to stand up as Verone walked over.

'No, no, no, sit down', he said as he opened the yellow envelope.

'Nice Ferrari you got in the driveway', I stated, remember the black Ferrari I had flogged off back in LA.

'I'm glad you like it', he smirked, tipping the contents of the envelope out onto the table. It was a Cigar. 'Darling, will you hold that?' he ordered more than asked as he handed Monica the envelope. I tried my hardest not to laugh.

'We did all that for a damn cigar?' Brian asked, not very happy.

'No', Verone muttered, 'you did that for a job'; he pointed at the both of us. He reached over and grabbed the cigar cutter that had been in the envelope and cut the bottom off of his cigar. 'Do you really think I'd let someone impound my car?' he asked us as he spat out a couple of waist parts of his cigar. We just stared at him. 'The boatyard is mine', he stated simply when he realised we weren't impressed. 'Oh', he said pointing between the two of us, 'You two owe me a gate'. I smirked a little, as did he as he continued; 'I'll just take it off your cut'.

'Off our cut?' Brian laughed before looking rather serious.

'Yeah', Verone answered simply.

'I like that', Brian said looking at me for a reaction.

'Good', Verone answered, lighting his cigar.

'What's this job you got for us anyway?' Brian asked as Verone nodded.

'Come with me', he said, leading us away from the house. 'The house has ears in it', Verone stated as I looked at Brian weirdly. I watched Verone throw away his cigar and I gaped before turning my attention back to Verone. 'I have something for you to carry from North Beach to the Keys', he stated as I stepped up beside him.

'What is it?' I asked sternly, looking at the side of his head.

'Just put in the car what I tell you too, and drive it to me and don't let anybody stop you. Understand?' He asked tapping my arm with his index finger, cigar cutter in hand.

'Yeah', I said before continuing, 'Any chance of cop trouble?'

'No, I'm buying you a window of time, but it's not gonna be open very long', he paused as he crossed his arms, stopped at the edge away from the house. 'You make it, and I'll personally hand you one hundred thousand at the finish line'.

'Make it a hundred a piece', Brian butted in as I turned to him glaring, 'Look man, obviously your pockets aren't nervous', Brian bent down and touched his pockets which I almost laughed at, but given the situation, I didn't.

'Hey, Hey, hey', Verone stated, 'Don't ever touch me'.

'Ours are empty', Brian finished what he was going on about earlier. 'Like I said…we're hungry'.

'I got an idea', Verone started just after I had turned to Brian and shook my head, 'Why don't you guys join us at the club a little later tonight?'

'Yeah?' Monica agreed from behind us, 'Pearl at midnight?'

'We can get to know each other a little better'; he said smirking.

'All right, sounds good', I answered before Brian had another word vomit.

'We'll see you tonight', Verone muttered, shaking my hand.

'See you', I muttered in return going to knock shoulders with Monica but she pulled away. Brian and I had gotten nearly ten metres away from the couple, before…

'Hey you', Verone shouted out. I turned around and headed a few steps closer to them, Brian still had his back facing them, 'Pockets aren't empty'.

'Damn', I heard Brian whisper behind me.

'I'll take my cutter back', he said as Brian pulled it out of his pocket and laid it flat in his own hand.

'Stupid ass', I muttered as he walked passed and handed Verone his cigar cutter.

'Hey, man, I figured you had like twelve or thirteen of these', Brian muttered.

'Your not to bright, get out of here', Verone whispered as Brian turned around and walked down the pathway. We were out of sight range and hearing range. I jumped and got Brian in a headlock.

'Same old Brian, doing stupid shit', I sneered at him as he pushed me away.

'Get off me', he stated.

'Look, running your mouth? Insulting people? Stealing Verone's shit?' I stated, livid, as he turned to me.

'Think I'm going to let someone stare me down?' he asked me, turning away from me as soon as I looked at him, he was acting strangely but I could figure why, 'I didn't let anybody stare me down in jail, think I'm going let it fly on the beach?' we continued walking until Brian had a little more to whinge about. 'And you, I'll take my cutter back' he mimicked Verone, 'His rich ass'.

'And your packing', I yelled at him.

'Like you aren't', he retaliated as I stormed off ahead of him, 'Exactly'.

'From here on out, I do the talking', he said to me firmly as I got into my Evo, him into his spyder.

'You want to do a little more than that', I mumbled as he stood back up and leant on the door of his car.

'Oh, what's that supposed to mean?' he asked heatedly.

'It means, you always get in trouble because of a girl, Brian', I said seriously. He just glared at me before getting back into his car. I shook my head and got back into my Evo and led the way to Tej's garage.

'I'm hungry', I mumbled heading over to Jimmy. 'Hey, yo Jimmy, what's up man?'

'Hey what up, Bullit?' he asked, as I gave him a quick hug.

'Hey, do me a favour, when you've got second, I want you to go check out the Evo and Spyder, make sure everything's compensated'.

'Evo?' he said surprised, 'Where'd you get an Evo from?'

'Yo, it's a long story', I smiled as I headed towards the inner workings of the garage.

'All right, I gotcha man', he said, wiping his hands.

'Ok, thanks Jimmy', I said walking further towards the back of the garage as Brian came up beside me.

'Ray, don't do that man, your making me lose money', I heard Tej yell through the loudspeaker, 'Come on, stop that, I know your better than that'.

'Damn', Brian said with a straight face as I walked forwards, laughing, shaking my head. 'Damn, now I'm hungry too', Brian muttered. I laughed at him and pulled him away by the neck.

'Let's go', I laughed.

'Serious, man', Brian laughed.

'Hey, Tej', I sighed. 'What's up Suki?' I said bending down and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

'What's up, baby?' she asked, before turning back to working on her car.

'How you doing?' I asked, watching her.

'Good', she muttered in reply, 'How you doing?'

'What's this, what's the latest?' I asked as she tilted her drawing pad up and showed Brian and I what she had been drawing.

'It's a work in progress, it's not finished', she stated.

'That's some artistic shit. You've still got talent', Brian assured empathetically.

'Yeah she's good, she's the best', I said as I watched Tej chuck a hissy at one of the water skiers.

The race had finished and I watched Tej collect his winnings quickly. 'I see you're still about your money. You race too?' Brian asked as Tej shook his head gravely. Brian hadn't really had much to do with Tej, he usually showed up to races or stayed back home.

'No, man. I hit a wall doing like a buck twenty a couple of years ago', he replied, 'Ever since then I've been organising and collecting man'.

'Shit', Brian said softly as I shrugged, giving Tej a quick hug. He smiled and turned back to his races.

'Bye, Suki', I mumbled, kissing the palm of my hand and touching her cheek. It was something she had come up with, and we both didn't question it. Patting the back of my leg, she mumbled something resembling a goodbye as she continued to sketch. Brian and I headed back out to the front of the garage just to see where Jimmy had gotten with the cars.

'So, Jimmy, you ever seen anything like this before?' I asked, not really expecting what he was going to tell me next.

'Nah, both of them are wired like I never seen before', he stated, not happy.

'What?' Brian said from beside me as I followed Jimmy round from the Evo to the Spyder.

'Yeah man, they've got us wired with GPS', I muttered, filling Brian in to what he didn't understand, 'That's why Markham knew we were at that impound lot'.

'You're the master mechanic; can't you just yank it up out of there?' Brian stated dumbly as jimmy gave him an answer.

'I'll try, but this ain't LoJack. The DIS box, the engine management system, hell, the main harness, the GPS has spidered into all that', Jimmy answered as Tej and Suki walked out from the back of the garage.

'Hey, tell me something man', Tej started looking at me, 'Do I even want to know where the skyline is, dawg?' he paused before starting again, 'Or where've you've been these passed couple of days or where the hell you got these rides from?'

'They're hot', Suki laughed.

'Yeah, they hot. They're wired so hot, anyone tracking these things will know every time you don't wear your seatbelt', Jimmy exclaimed.

'All right, Jimmy. Just do what you can do bro', I ordered as I headed off with Brian.

'I got you', Jimmy replied.

'Hey, bro, check it out', I whispered to Brian, 'See that Cadillac across the street?'

'Yeah', he replied.

'Yeah, well they've been on us ever since we left Verone's house', I muttered scratching my chin. We made a quick dash back to the garage, Brian grabbing some windscreen wiper crap, while I grabbed the Evo. I stayed back for a while as I watched him spray the liquid before lighting it on fire. I sped forward, stopped, picked Brian up and sped off.

I pulled up outside of the meet up building and we let ourselves in freely. 'He'll blow our cover before we even get started', Brian cursed as we walked further in.

'Hey, yo Bilkins, can you tell me what went wrong?' I asked seriously.

'That's what I want to know', was his only reply. Before we could do anything, let alone breathe Markham popped up out of nowhere and shoved a gun at us.

'Show me your hands. Keep them up', Markham shouted shoving the gun at Brian.

'What's this about?' Brian asked panicky.

'Hold this', Markham ordered as he threw his gun at agent dun before launching himself at Brian. 'You think you can shoot at me? I'm a god damn federal agent'.

'What the hell are you talking about?' Brian yelled as Bilkins, Agent Dun and myself ran over to stop them.

'Get your hands off me', Markham yelled.

'Get him away from me', Brian cursed. 'Just cause you wear a badge doesn't mean you can come right in and mess shit up for us'.

'Shut up, Brian!' I shouted.

'Don't tell me to shut up, James', he shouted at me before pointing at Markham, 'You almost blew our cover old man'.

'You shouldn't have shown up like you did', I said calmly before looking over at Bilkins and Brian, 'You didn't know Verone was testing us?'

'No!' Markham spat, 'I thought you punks were running'. Brian started yelling and carrying on.

'That's great!' I stated angrily, 'That's real great!' I pulled out my gun from the inside of my pants, 'And if Brian wanted to shoot you? You wouldn't be here right now'.

'Alright, we got to get this under control', Bilkins stated, pocketing my gun. Brian was pacing before he saw a paper bag on the table, and he opened it.

'Hey', Markham stated, 'That's mine'.

'So?' Brian questioned as he opened it up and started to eat the contents.

'Tell me what you know', Bilkins started as we had all sat down.

'We're making a run for Verone', I muttered, 'I'm not sure when or where, but he did say he had bought us a window, I assume from the local cops'.

'I can talk to some of the guys at the local P.D', Dun suggested.

'They're no good. If Verone has some of them on payroll, then we can't let them know our operation', Bilkins told Dun.

'Exactly', I added, 'In addition, Verone told us that he himself will be at the drop'.

'That's good news', Bilkins cheered slightly looking back at Markham, 'If you're going to be delivering drug money, we can get him for laundering'.

'Now, there's only one problem', Brian chimed in.

'What's that?' Bilkins said cautiously.

'Fuentes', Brian stated, 'Verone's tapping her'.

'Tapping her?' Bilkins reiterated in confusion, 'Tapping her how?'

'That is crap', Markham swore.

'What you talking about?' Brian shouted angrily, 'We know what we seen'.

'What do you think, O'Connor?' Markham asked, looking over at me with that smug look, 'you think she's compromised? You should know'.

'Cut it out', Brian said from behind me urgently. The whole business in L.A had been a sore subject for the both of us since we arrived in Miami.

'Your pal O'Connor didn't tell you?' Markham relished, as he continued to dig my grave deeper, 'She flipped on Bilkins in LA. She gave her mark her car keys and let him disappear. That's why she's not a cop anymore'. Brian sighed behind me as Markham continued, 'So what do you think, expert?'

'Man, I don't know', I answered honestly.

'All right', Bilkins interrupted before things got ugly, 'We'll keep an eye on her'.

'We're out of here', I said looking back at Brian as we got up and headed out of customs.

'Let your man go, huh?' Brian asked with a sarcastic smile as we walked down the ramp on the outside of the building.

'They still think it's me', I smiled, 'I wonder what would happen if I told them it was you', I said irritably.

'I would pay to see that', Brian said in mock happiness. 'We got Fuentes in with Verone, Markham trying to blow our cover and we got two wired cars', Brian yelled, stating the obvious as we got in. 'I'm going to tell you, you let our man Markham do that shit again in front of Verone, that's going to be our ass'.

'I know, man, I know. It's just getting thick real quick. We may need a way out, got to come up with an exit strategy', I said, saying whatever came to my head.

'Exit Strategy, huh?' Brian repeated.

'Yeah', I said looking from him back to the front of the car.

'I like the way that sounds, what you got in mind?' he asked with a smile, still stuffing his face with Markham's sandwich.

'I don't know man, but we need two more cars', I started up the car before pulling out.


	9. Chapter 9

We were all hanging out on the side of the road. Brian, Suki, Tej, Jimmy and me just as Fabio and Fonzie rolled up. 'Yeah', Tej muttered, 'Here they come'. They got out as soon as they pulled up to the starting line.

'Fonzie and Fabio, glad you could make it', Brian said sarcastically as Fonzie waved at us.

'We heard you boys…' I glared at them, '…Wanted to get rid of those Cracker Jack toys'.

'No, actually we just figured those cars of yours deserve better drivers. So which is why we're gunna take them off your hands', I said irately.

'Why don't we settle this now?' Fabio stated as his girlfriend held him back.

'Wait, wait, wait, how bout we settle this on the black top, huh?' Tej stated, stepping forward. 'Each car does a down-and-back, tag-team style. For slips', Suki stepped up angrily and stood beside Fonzie's girlfriend.

'Loser walks home', she assured as the girlfriend stepped back.

'We came to race', Fonzie said to her.

'Load them up then', Tej ordered as I turned around and pushed Brian out of earshot of the other drivers.

'Let's go get these cars, man', I muttered. 'All right, check it out. There's no way we're gonna beat these guys straight up. That Hemi's putting out about 425 and that Yenko will snap a Speedo in five seconds flat, so…' I took a deep breath. 'We're gonna have to pull something out of our ass. The only thing I can think of is save the spray for the way back, the return trip'. I slapped my hand in Brian's.

'Done deal', he muttered firmly.

'Let's do this', I muttered in return as we moved away from each other.

'I'm getting that Orange one', Brian said with a wide smile as he jumped in his car. 'You ain't ready, Fabio', he yelled out while pulling up to the starting line.

'All right', Tej yelled. 'You each got a barrel to go round down at the end of the road here. Second waves gutta sit tight till your partner crosses this line right here. First team to go down and back twice wins the race', he said, getting serious now, 'at which point…the losers will hand over them keys. Otherwise you'll be eating breakfast through straws from now on'. Tej was looking at Fabio when he said that, 'Comprendai?'

'I get it', Fabio nodded.

'Oh this means you too'; he said nodding at Brian.

'I got it', Brian said seriously.

'All right, let's race', Tej stated before walking backwards to the front of the cars.

'Come on, baby, you got this Brian', Suki shouted, 'this dude ain't serious'.

'Yeah, you gone, homey', Brian stated happily, 'I got this. This is done, you about to lose your car padre'. Brian was mighty happy.

'You got it Brian', Suki shouted.

'You think I'm worried about this? This is nothing', Brian shouted to Suki, smiling wide. That was until Fabio decided to rev his engine. Brian's smile fell off his face faster than a cat can lick its ass.

'All right, here we go', Tej shouted, lifting his hands in the air.

'It's all right baby, I'm gonna handle this', Suki said, storming up to Tej while putting her arms up in the air.

'Handle it', Tej smirked, resting his hands on her hip. I just laughed at him.

'Ready, and…go', Suki shouted. I watched Brian twitch before he sped off, coming out just behind Fabio. It took awhile, but as soon as Brian started coming up beside him, Fabio planted his foot and sped out in front.

They got to the Barrels, my stomach churning as Fabio swerved round it, and speeding off back down for the return trip, passing up Brian on the way. Brian swerved around the barrels and made it down far enough before he hit his shot of NOS. I watched as Fabio swerved off the road and knocked a sign right in Brian's path. He swerved it and lost control before regaining it and heading back down towards the line. I revved my engine getting restless as I watch Fabio come over the line and Fonzie take off.

'Come on, Brian', I muttered as Brian sped across the line and I sped off. I wasn't far behind as I watched Fonzie swerve the barrels perfectly and take off back towards me. It was time for drastic measures. I slowly drifted over to Fonzie's side of the road and sped straight for him. He had to chicken out, and that was all I was hoping for, if he didn't, bade-Bing, bade-boom. But he swerved, not only a meter from my grill.

'Whoohoo', I screamed, not taking my hands off the wheel as I sped on, swerving around the barrels. I was speeding back down, and I watched Fonzie restart his car and speed off again. This time I had a chance to catch up and pass. I was catching up the rear as I hit up my NOS. We were now coming head to head, not far from the finish line. Swinging in and out of first place, Fonzie planted his foot a little more, as I switched gears in time to speed over the finish line first.

'Ha!' I shouted as I pulled my car to a small stop and reversed it all the way back to the finish line.

It was time to meet Verone and Monica at the club; Pearl. I was wearing a shirt I had stolen off of letty a fair time ago. It was made of faux leather, two pieces together, with a stitching thing happening at the sides. It was very low cut and very revealing. I had also thrown on a pair of boy-leg jeans. My con's stood out like a sore thumb.

'Hey, how's it going?' I smiled, walking up to the bouncer outside of the club.

'Good, what's your name?' he smiled politely looking at his large sophisticated list.

'We're guests of Mr. Verone's', I answered. His smiled slipped before he reached down and unchained the red rope to let us through. Walking further in, the club shone a pale red. Sluts and bitches were dancing everywhere, cracks and cleavage galore up in here.

'It's a hoasis in here', Brian stated beside me as I smirked. I had never heard him talk like that before it was roughly amusing.

'Yeah, lots of potential', I joked as Brian chuckled. He was having fun.

'Damn! You got a pen?' he asked me, diving his hands into his pockets, looking for the invention people called a pen. I just turned to him and started laughing. 'It's about to get serious', he paused to look around, 'Look at the girl on the swing'.

'Hey', someone shouted from in front of us as I turned my sights on Monica. 'You guys did something right. Verone never socialises with hired help'.

'Now, what's that make you?' Brian retaliated as I snorted softly, trying to stop myself from laughing. Monica just glared at him, as I was controlling my inner laughter.

'Where's he at?' I asked, as she switched her sights on me.

'He's on his way', she answered as I nodded, before looking around again.

'You and Verone don't go everywhere together?' Brian asked seriously, as I snorted softly again, trying to tame the laughter again.

'What's that supposed to mean?' Monica retaliated heatedly as I whistled tunelessly looking around, trying to stay out of the current verbal fight going on.

'Nothing', Brian answered calmly before laughing slightly. 'I'm going to take a piss'.

'You go do that', Monica said "happily". Brian just looked at me before heading off to no doubt find some whore to relieve his masculine problems. I stepped forward so I could hear what Monica was saying, we were about the same height, so it wasn't hard. 'What's his deal?'

'He doesn't trust people who carry badges', I stated simply, looking around at the people drinking.

'Didn't he carry one, though?' She shouted, looking at me seriously.

'He doesn't trust people who carry badges, end of story', I answered, shrugging to end the matter.

'You talk like you know', she questioned as I just smirked, following her as she started to walk off.

'Yeah', I answered as someone slapped my back. I stepped closer to Monica as I spoke. 'He'd been a cop about two months when an old mate of his was busted in a garage raid. This guy had eight sets of wheels in his possession, each and every one of them were hot'.

'So he busted him?' she asked me.

'No, he didn't even know it was going down. But that doesn't really matter. Basically once he became a cop, Brian was treated as the friend who became the enemy', I sighed. She led me up to a table with some weird ass seats, before she started playing with my bracelet. I tuned her out as she started mumbling what it was about and I began to picture Torreto sitting there.

This was one of the many times when I was settled, where I actually thought of him. I thought of how things would have been if I hadn't have left; if he didn't know that I was a cop; if I wasn't actually a cop, and whether he would still be alive if I hadn't have stopped the truck raid. I was knocked out of my reverie by Brian.

'What's up, man?' I asked at his grave face.

'He's here', he said, as I looked sick.

'Where's he at?' I asked as I looked at Monica who I noticed was looking over at Verone.

'He's over there don't look', Brian muttered as I looked over at him.

'Excuse me, Mr. Verone would like for you to join him', a waitress smiled as she delivered the message.

'Let's do it', Monica stated as we all got up and was led over.

'See what I'm talking about?' Brian muttered to me angrily as we walked. I just looked at him funny before we reached the red rope leading to the VIP lounge.

'It's alright, let them in', Verone stated to his two Hench men. We walked in, Brian in front of me as Verone muttered something to him. I was left face to face with Verone.

'How you doing?' I smirked at him as he just stared at me.

'Good, you enjoying your night?' he asked me strangely.

'Yeah, I'm having a good time', I answered.

'Good', he said simply. I thought it was going to end there but he continued. 'She's beautiful, isn't she?' Why do people continuously ask me questions like that? He just looked at me and made a humming noise before I answered.

'Yeah', I stated, 'she's all right'.

'You got balls, kid', he said to me, pointing at me while smiling. 'I can appreciate that'.

'Women are a very powerful force', he paused, and 'you see the blonde sitting with the gentleman right there?' I looked over and saw a hefty man speaking with a gorgeous blonde. 'Five minutes of her time and she can get anything she wants from him, watch'. The blonde and the guy got up and Verone chuckled before looking at me. 'I wonder where they're going? Sit down'.

I did as I was told as Verone rounded on Brian. 'So, you, uh, lit my man's car on fire, is that right?'

'Yeah, I did', Brian answered seriously. He knew this was no time for laughing. 'You see', he started again, 'I've got a problem with authority'.

'I have that same problem', Verone muttered. 'For me, it's cops in particular', and just as he said that, he looked straight over at me. I got a sinking feeling in my stomach that he knew, but he wouldn't come right out and say it. He turned back to Brian and chuckled before rubbing Monica's knee. 'Let's take a walk. Come on'.

'We just got here', Monica stated as I nodded and smiled in agreement.

'Now, we're leaving', he stated commandingly, indicating for Brian and I to follow. I was the first of the three of us to leave, Verone behind me. 'Hey', he swore as I turned around just in time to see Brian stand up straight. God damn it, he had tried to steal the cutter again. We were led down a hallway, a bright orange hallway to be precise

'What's all that?' Brian asked indicating to all the equipment on the table as we entered the room. There was a portable blowtorch, two clear hoses, welding gloves and a tin bucket covered by a white cloth.

'We're going to have a little fun', Verone answered, trying to pry the cork from the champagne bottle. He finally popped it and poured a glass for himself and Monica, leaving us to die of thirst. I was looking at Verone when he chuckled and raised his wine glass at someone. I turned to find the fat guy and the blonde.

'Hey, Carter', the fat guy smiled nervously, arm around the blonde.

'Meet, ah, detective Whitworth', Verone introduced as I looked over at the fat man, 'One of Miami's finest. Thank you sweetheart', Verone smiled as the blonde glared before walking out. 'You enjoying yourself, Detective?'

'Yeah, I was', he answered angrily, 'I mean, you know me'.

'Yeah', Verone smirked, 'I do know you. You've been on my payroll a long time'.

'Verone, that ain't right', Whitworth started.

'Shut up!' Verone stated. 'I've got one last job for you detective, you hear me?'

'Look, we've been all through this', Whitworth sighed.

'Yeah?' Verone chuckled.

'And I said I can't do it', Whitworth stated.

'That's the wrong answer', Verone said heatedly before looking at his Hench men, 'the table'. They launched and tackled Whitworth before they held him on top of the table. I tried my hardest not to jump as I did so. I reminded myself that there were worse things out there than this.

'I'm a detective, Verone', Whitworth shouted, 'You do anything to me, the whole force'll be on your ass in a minute'. That was when we found out with the clear hoses were for. They had tied them around his wrists and the Hench men were holding one each.

'Shut your mouth', Verone shouted, ripping open Whitworth's shirt, 'you fat piece of shit'.

'Stop right now', Whitworth stated angrily as I started singing a song in my head relieving my eyes of the horrible thing happening in front of me, before realising it was not the time or the place for it. Verone threw the cloth off of the top of the bucket on the couch and pulled a rat out of the bucket by its tail.

'Sit down!' Verone said to Brian and me heatedly, as we found our way around the room and sat on the couch to the head of the table where we could clearly see Whitworth's face.

'You're going to regret this. Stop right now!' Whitworth spat as I got the song started in my head again.

'Once the bucket gets hot enough, detective…' Verone started, 'the rat…is going to want out. The only direction it can go is south'. The balding Hench man put the welding gloves on as Verone dropped the rat onto Whitworth's stomach and shoved the bucket over top of it. He reached over and picked up the blowtorch before starting it. He started heating the bucket all around. 'Did you know that your average rat could chew through a steel drainpipe? You see, you have nothing to worry about when he's screaming, detective. It's when he goes quiet that he goes to work'.

'Stop it', Whitworth yelled, 'you can't be that stupid. Stop it now!'

'You're in charge of the units that are watching my properties, huh. What I want is a fifteen minute window where everybody, and I mean everybody, disappears, do you hear me?' Verone asked, as he stopped heating the bucket.

'No', Whitworth moaned, 'I can't do it'.

'You can't?' Verone repeated. 'Ok, Monica, come here'. Monica stood up and walked over to Verone uneasy. 'Shut him up'. She placed both her hands over his mouth as he continued screaming. Verone went back to heating the bucket.

'It's biting me', was all I could make out of the screams as the rat was obviously giving off the effect that the heat was giving it.

'What?' Verone asked with a smile, 'Got something you want to say?' Monica pulled her hands away as he spoke.

'It bit me, Jesus', he groaned, 'And I'll do it'.

'Do what?' Verone shouted, 'Say it!'

'I'll do it', Whitworth cried, 'I'll give you your window', he stared crying, 'Just get it off me'.

'You betray me…' Verone started, pointing at Whitworth with the blowtorch, 'and my rat here, is going to visit your wife, Lynn, your son, clay, and your daughter, Lexi. Do you hear me?' Whitworth nodded, 'Do you understand me?' Verone was going mad; he grabbed Whitworth's face. 'I'll burn your fucking eyes out! I'll burn them out. Now, you can go', Verone finished calmly as he tapped Whitworth on the shoulder and took the rat away, letting his Hench men dispose of the detective.

He walked up to us calmly before smiling widely and taking a swig of his champagne. 'You guys enjoy the show?' we just stared at him blankly, not sure of what to say. 'Fifteen minutes, and then every cop in Florida's gonna be on you. Be at Versailles Café at six a.m., day after tomorrow, ready to drive. You understand?'

'Yeah', I said grimly.

'Don't play games with me, or you'll be next. All right?' he threatened as we just remained neutral. 'Help yourself to a little champagne', he said indicating to the bottle behind me in the cooler. 'Let's go', he said back to Monica as they left us.

'That was a damn rat', Brian said softly beside me.

I sped as fast as I could all the way back to Tej's garage.

'She was into it, man. What's that about?' Brian asked me as we both got out of the car, I walking towards the back of the car. 'You seen the way she grabbed the dudes head'.

'She had to, man; he was testing her. You got to remember, her ass is on the line, just like ours', I answered, knowing exactly what she was going through.

'Hey, you're into this girl way too much', Brian stated, 'It's starting to remind me of this crazy assed trailer rat from back in the day, Tanya'.

'Tanya?' I laughed as he just looked at me.

'I mean I couldn't let it go to waste', was his only answer as I walked away from him and over to the table with Tej, Jimmy, Suki and another girl. I walked right round to Suki's side and she gave me a kiss on the cheek.

'I got this, I got this', Jimmy kept stating.

'Is that right?' Tej muttered.

'We go race for cash, but when I step on the gas, my nitrous go blast, leave your ass in the past. Hey Tej, you about to lose your garage', Jimmy rapped as Tej just muttered. 'I'm a low budget mechanic but I over charge', he stated before he slapped his cards down on the table. 'Pay me! Let's go man'.

'I'm so glad you're happy', Tej smirked, 'This is my garage'. He slammed his cards down on the table before stealing the cash off of Jimmy. 'Royal flush, give me this, man'.

'Hey, hey, you can play that for long, put that money back on the table, you know it's mine next hand', Suki smirked as I walked round to Jimmy.

'Hey yo, Jimmy, how're you ever gonna pay me back if you keep losing to Tej like that?' I asked, slapping my hand in his. 'I'm gunna crash, Tej, I'll catcha tomorrow'.

'All right, man', Tej muttered before going back to the game.

I was sleeping half off the bed and half on it as I heard a door open. My eyes snapped open and I turned over sleepily as I saw Monica sitting on the end of my bed, nervous.

'What are you doing here?' I asked, sitting up, running my hand through my hair.

'James, they're gonna kill you. I heard him telling Enrique and Roberto', she said, as I yawned. 'Once you finish the run, they're putting a bullet in your head'.

'You sure you heard him right?' I asked, my head reeling.

'I'm sure'; she panicked. I heard a knock and in stormed Brian.

'Verone's boys is outside…' he started, before realising why. 'Oh, I see what they're looking for, your little girlfriend here'. I watched a shadow walk across the side.

'They don't know I'm here, I snuck out', Monica whispered hastily.

'What are they doing here then?' Brian asked heatedly.

'I don't know', Monica whispered angrily, 'Maybe they're guessing'.

'Hey, go stall them', I whispered to Brian, 'Go stall them for like two minutes'.

'Check her, Homey', Brian whispered, pointing at Monica before walking out.

'James, this isn't about being a good cop, or doing your job', Monica whispered to me, 'they're gonna kill you, you gotta pull out, okay?'

'Yeah', I mumbled, as she began to panic again.

'Don't make that run, James, don't make that run', she whispered, before running into the toilet. I walked outside with Brian. One of Verone's Hench men pushed his way on the boat as I went in to follow him; the other grabbed me by the shirt and pulled me back out.

'Hey, where you going? You stay right here with us, buddy', he said, holding the gun to my neck. I glared at him before pulling the curtain back so I could at least see what he was doing. I watched him search around till he came to the toilet door. He ripped it open and walked back out.

'Stay your ass off my girls boat', Brian stated heatedly before being elbowed in the gut by the searcher. Brian came back and got him in the cheek as the guy holding me got distracted. I stepped round to the other side of him and pushed him down by grabbing his arm and pulling it back up so that the gun he was holding was now pointed into his bicep.

'Put the gun down!' I shouted as the guy Brian was fighting held the gun to his head, 'Put the gun down now!'

'You first, asshole', he shouted, shoving the gun into Brian's head. My stomach tightened as I watched his finger slip a little on the trigger.

'Shoot the shit out of him', the guy I was holding shouted. We all continued shouting, not one of us even paying attention to the other, we didn't even pay attention to another person stepping in.

'Enough', they shouted as I looked up to see the last person I expected standing there. 'Shut up', Verona yelled pointing to the guy holding Brian. 'It's over come on', he stated, calling his guys off. I cocked the gun to get the bullet out, 'It's our gun, come on, let's go'.

He chuckled cockily as Brian and I stepped out onto the dock. 'I'm glad to see you guys are getting along so well because tomorrow, Roberto and Enrique are going to be riding along with you. Just so we don't have any problems', He smiled smugly as he finished, pointing at us as he turned away, 'I'll see you guys in a bit'.

'What the hell was she doing in there?' Brian asked in a hushed whisper, turning to me as soon as the guys were out of ear shot.


	10. Chapter 10

We arrived at the meet up building again and walked in with ease as if nothing in the world could touch us. 'Nice shirt, Bilkins', I smirked at the bright Yellow fish shirt he was wearing.

'It's my day off', he said softly.

'Well, anyhow, this is the deal', I started as Brian crossed his arms, 'last night, Verone threatened a cop into giving us a window. We're driving to an airstrip in the keys, off Nallwood Avenue. Verone has a plane there and he's taking off for good'.

'Wait a minute, how do you know this?' Markham interrupted.

'Monica', was all I said.

'She's doing her job', Brian cut in, 'She warned us'.

'She warned you about what?' Bilkins asked.

'Verone plans to kill us after we give him the money', I stated.

'Driving into an ambush wasn't the deal. I'm calling it off', Bilkins stated heatedly. I stared at him. He had never gotten so touchy about this sort of thing before, why was he doing it now?

'Like hell you are', Markham yelled, 'This is a customs case, Bilkins. No one's calling this off unless I do. Look, this is real simple. You make the run, get Verone and his cash together, so I can move in. You don't, I'll file enough charges on you to make you disappear', he said handing us a walkie-talkie each. 'We're gonna have GPS on you the whole time, just so you don't get any cute idea's'.

'And to make sure nothing happens to them, right?' Bilkins shouted out as Markham walked off.

'Yeah, right', Markham said rather quickly. We followed him out and walked a separate way.

'That guys a dick', Brian muttered.

'Yep', I agreed.

'Let me get this right', Brian started, 'If we don't do this, then we go to jail. If we do it, then Verone's gonna kill us'.

'It's a hell of a deal, huh?' I laughed half-heartedly.

'Yeah', Brian muttered, 'Maybe it is. But I know this guy's got an ass full of loot that he's ready to dump in our cars. I can think of two reasons why he doesn't need that money anymore'.

'Oh, here we go', I stated.

'You and me', he continued, 'Just like the old days. What do you think?'

'I think they messed with the wrong two guys, that's what I think'. I pulled out my mobile, bumped fists with Brian and walked away a little bit.

'Hey, yo, Tej, what's up?' I smiled.

'What's up?' Tej answered.

'Now, man, how quickly can you organise?' I asked.

'Look, bro, if ya'll really want to carry out this plan, this is the best place to do it', Tej stated as we walked across the walk through above the street. Tej had arranged for a meet up after he had looked around for a place.

'I think its perfect', I smiled before continuing, 'so what do they store here?'

We spent the whole of the next day working on the cars, loading the spray and allowing Suki to try out her new design on the side. We even added an ejector seat for the hell of it.

The sun had begun to set and it was possibly our last night alive. Brian and I relaxed out on the dock. 'Man, when did you start eating so much?' I asked as Brian was stuffing his face.

'I've been in jail', he smirked, 'I know how shitty the food is on the inside'. I just cracked up laughing; he was so serious. 'The way things are shaping up out here right now, it'll be a matter of time before I'm back in there or dead', I couldn't stop laughing, 'So I'm trying to eat all I can, while I can'. He still hadn't finished as I stopped laughing, 'Plus, the doctors say I got a high metabolism'.

'Man, I remember growing up', I smiled. 'You know, playing football in the dirt. Getting into trouble, all the stupid things I did?' I sighed, as I looked at him. He was trying not to remember. 'It all seems a little insignificant when you line it up against something like this'.

'Is that why you didn't go after Dom?' he asked me as I looked at the sky then back to him.

'Yeah, I think it had a lot to do with it', I sighed. The other half was the fact that I was falling in love with him.

'When we got busted…' Brian started, 'it wasn't your fault', I looked at him strangely, 'it was all on me. Mr. Brian O'Connor. Wild and out. Crazy man', I smiled slightly as I watched him, 'No one could tell me nothing, riding solo'.

'Yeah, well, not anymore', I smirked. 'Not anymore'.

Six a.m. was rolling in fast as we pulled up at Versailles Café. 'Here we go', Brian said into the walkie-talkie.

'Yeah, so you know what to do', I said in return, 'Stay cool. Keep focused. Remember the airstrips off Nallwood Avenue. It's the third exit after the bridge'.

'Got it', he said.

'So, what up, man, you ready for this?' I asked, leaning closer to the passenger window to talk to him.

'Come on, man. Guns, murderers, and crooked cops?' he said smiling widely, 'I was made for this, Bruh'. I stopped smiling as I saw Verone's men pull up. This was going to be one hell of a ride.

We followed them all the way to some trailer trash hideaway. There was no trailers really, just a bunch of two room house type things, falling apart. It reminded me of home in Arizona. We pulled up out side of one of the houses and I noticed a guy kind of like hector leaning to look out of the window.

Enrique and Roberto got out of their four-wheel drive and opened the back hatch. Pulling out two sledgehammers, they stood staring at us, waiting for us to get out of our cars. So we did.

'Come on', Roberto stated, making they're way into the house we had pulled up at. The guy that reminded me of a smaller version of Hector, spoke a little Spanish before hopping out of the house and walking off. I watched him walk off as banging went on inside the house. My attention was then turned to the inside of the house as I watched Roberto and Enrique rip apart the wall, and millions of dollars in cash, tumble out of the now gaping hole in the wall.

They began to pack the money into black leather bags and one by one, threw them out to Brian and me to put in the car.

'Load up', Enrique yelled at us.

They had finished packing and we had finished loading. 'Three bags in one car, huh?' Brian asked Roberto. Not far off we heard police sirens and a chopper overhead, causing us all to panic and anger surge inside of me.

'The cops', I swore as I jumped in the car, drivers side as Enrique jumped into the passenger seat.

'I'm not going back to Jail', Brian muttered, but I heard him loud and clear. He ran off towards Enrique and Roberto's car.

'Where you going man? Lets go', Roberto screamed, as Brian opened the drivers side door of the four-wheel drive.

'What is he doing?' Enrique shouted to me as I just shrugged and watched. He had picked up a rock and sat it on the accelerator and started the car, sending it screaming towards the cops. He ran back laughing as I just chuckled slightly at him before leading the way out.

We made it on the highway and I was going off the road to bypass the cars. Enrique was holding onto the edge of his seat, shitting himself.

'Do you know what you're doing, man?' he asked me as I just looked serious and kept going. I switched a gear as I looked in the rear-view mirror. Brian was falling back.

'Stay with me, Brian, stay with me', I exclaimed more to myself than anybody.

I got the speedometer over 120, as I continued to swerve dangerously around cars. I could hear the cop sirens getting louder and louder as we went further down the highway. This was not good. Enrique turned to me, panicking.

'They're catching up, man!' he shouted as I turned to him alarmed.

'Shut up, man!' I shouted back, turning to face the road again as I went up another gear. 'Yeah, nice driving, Brian, nice driving', I exclaimed randomly again as I served off of the road to pass a car. A chopper flew overhead, two guys sitting out, holding a gun each, pointed at my car. I gaped before slamming both my feet on the brake, Brian doing the same behind me, swerving to miss my backend. That wasn't enough, one of the spider things attached itself to the side of my car, sending the system of my car haywire, before slowly shutting it down.

'Oh, shit', I cursed as I looked back at it. 'Come on, man, take the wheel', I stated, looking over at Enrique.

'No, No, No, man, I can't drive', she stated worriedly beside me. I took drastic actions; I reach over and pulled his hands to the wheel.

'Just hold the wheel', I shouted, holding his hand on the wheel as he tried to tug it back. 'Put your hands on it, hold it right there, keep it steady. Just like that'. I got up on my seat and leant out my window, Enrique holding my shirt as I leant out with a rag, ready to grab the spider affecting my car.

'What are you doing man?' I heard Brian shout as I placed the rag on the spider and tugged at it. Enrique was steering us onto the grass beside the road, which made it harder to pull it out. I continued trying, as my foot began to become loose on the pedal. I tugged harder, grunting as I did so, stomach beginning to be rubbed red-raw as I was doing so. Then that was it. I tugged it free and grunted as I threw the metal claw away and into the grill of a cop car.

I cracked up laughing as I jumped back into the car and took the wheel as the cop car swerved out of control, taking a few more cops in it's wake. Enrique started screaming at me in Spanish as I started cheering and speeding up.

'Yeah, man!' I shouted slapping him on the chest in triumphant happiness. I looked up and still saw the chopper there. Then I realised I was going to pass the turn off as I swerved dramatically to reach it, all the cop cars fumbling over themselves to follow. We swerved round two or three corners as we began to lose the cops.

'You're a good driver, man', Enrique said, a little more calm than earlier.

'Thanks, bro', I said calmly as I continued to maintain my speed. I saw a bunch of cop cars blocking the way, but we swerved pass them perfectly as we headed to the spot Tej suggested to play out our plan.

'All right, Miami's finest, let's see what you got', I muttered as I sped up a little more and picked up the walkie-talkie. 'Hey, man, everyone's here. Time for the show', I laughed into it.

'Let's give it to him', was Brian's reply as we swerved into the storage lot.

'All right, let the party begin. Let's go', I shouted as Brian and I pulled into the only two open garage doors. They shut quickly behind us as we pulled up before getting out quickly.

'What's up Tej', I shouted as we transferred the money bags into the Yenko and Hemi.

'Hope you know what your doing, James', he said to me simply as I nodded and jumped in, Enrique getting in beside me.

'Time to go is now', I whispered as everybody started their engines, revving them in hopes for a good take off. The first wave out were the trucks with the bull bars, in use for clearing the way for the stampede of cars about to speed out, and that, they did. Everybody went pouring out, circling around the cop cars before I gave the signal.

'Yo everybody, let's break', I said into the walkie-talkie as everybody started pouring out of the storage car park, and sped there way in every direction.

'How bout them apples, man?' I smirked as we sped of down the freeway, no cop in sight. It was free range from here.

'Good job, man', Enrique sighed, happy he wasn't being chased and he could breath easy. I laughed as I picked up the walkie-talkie.

'Hey thanks, thanks a lot Bro. You're clutch. I owe you big time', I shouted as Tej came back sounded rather unhappy.

'Yeah, James, you really do owe me, you really do…' he paused for a second, '…us. Suki says you owe us, all right?' I smiled as I turned down a small country road.

'What's up Brian, you there? Come in', I asked as he came back rather happy.

'Yeah, what's up man?' he shouted.

'Hey, it looks like we've got just one more trick left', I shouted in return.

'My pleasure, buddy, let's do it baby', he shouted as I smirked. It took awhile, but as I waited, I heard the faint screams of Roberto being ejected from the car. It was now my turn.

'Miss O'Connor, it worked! Blow and go baby, I'm all clear', he shouted as I nodded, 'Meet me at the point, hurry up, its on baby'.

'All right, 10-4, man', I answered calmly. I picked up the button, ready to press it when…

'Get off at Tarpon Point', Enrique said calmly, nodded to his left.

'Tarpon point?' I questioned confused, 'There's no airstrip at Tarpon point'.

'Who said anything about an airstrip?' he smirked at me as I panicked slightly and dropped the button.

'James?' shouted the walkie-talkie. It was Brian. 'James, what's the hold up, man?'

'Yo, Brian', I came back, choosing my words carefully. 'There's a new plan'.

'What the hell?' he shouted.

'We're meeting him at Tarpon Point exit, not the airstrip'; I came back, keeping side-glances on Enrique.

'So what are you saying?' Brian shouted back, I cursing him in my head.

'Like I said, there's a new plan', I replied as Enrique smirked at me, I looking worriedly at him.

'James?' Brian shouted as I put the walkie-talkie down. 'James? Hello, you there?'

I pulled up at Tarpon point and one of Verone's bodyguards walked up to my door, holding me in there with his gun as Verone and Monica stepped out of the car ahead. The first thing I saw was the shotgun in Verone's hand.

'It's all right, let her out', Verone ordered as the bodyguard stepped away and I got out slowly. I walked round the back, keeping my eyes on Verone as Enrique stood beside me.

'Pop the trunk', he ordered. They cleared the money and I was pushed roughly to the front of the car then over to Verone.

'Where's the rest of it?' Verone asked, panicking slightly.

'The other car', I muttered.

'Another car?' Verone questioned, 'Where's the other car?'

'On it's way?' I said gravely.

'On the way, huh?' Verone said, almost laughing.

'Yeah', I replied. 'Here's your money', I stated as I threw the bag I was holding at his feet.

'So you know nothing about the agents that stormed my jet?' he questioned as I just stared at him. He looked around, before finally looking back at me. 'The funny thing is…I only told one person about the airstrip'. I swallowed hard as he walked over to Monica and started stroking her cheek, 'Custom agents sure are getting pretty, aren't they?' I heard Enrique hold a gun to the back of my head.

'Put her on the boat', Verone ordered, waving his hand carelessly. His bodyguard went to grab her hand but she just slapped it away. 'Get on the boat', Verone stated heatedly holding the shotgun to her face. She glared before making her own way onto the boat.

'Hide the cars, and get rid of her', Verone ordered as I just glared.

'Back in the car', Enrique ordered, shoving the gun against my head. I walked to the driver's side of the car, and drove down the little road beside the jetty. 'End of the road', Enrique chuckled, holding the gun to my head. 'You know, I like you. But I still got to kill you. It's my job'. I started clicking the ejector button desperately as he looked down at my hand. 'What's that?' he shouted.

'It's Barstow baby, and it's about to get ugly', shouted Brian from the walkie-talkie as I heard an engine rev from behind. Brian crashed into the black car from behind and that gave me the opportunity to reach over and grabbed Enrique's hand and beat it against the dash to get him to let the gun go. He started firing, putting holes in the windscreen as I pulled his arm away. That was when the teeth sunk into my shoulder and I started screaming. I elbowed him in the head, dazing him a little as the door opened beside Enrique and Brian pulled him out, me tumbling out after him.

'Oh shit', I swore as Enrique got me in a headlock. That was before Brian kicked him full bolt in the head, knocking him away. I got up and held the gun on him as Brian continued to hit him. I looked at Brian before I kicked Enrique in the head, hard. I liked it so much I decided to do it again. Brian spat on him as I jumped and brought my right foot down in the middle of his back.

'Come on', Brian said, pulling me away before I did real damage. That was when he walked back and kicked him again before running after me. We watched the boat sail passed before running back to my car and kicking the windshield out. That was when I reversed backwards, speeding off after the boat.

'I thought you were dead, man', Brian yelled, sternly.

'Yeah, me too, thanks for saving my ass', I yelled back.

'What are you doing, James?' he shouted as I kept on speeding.

'I don't know', I shouted, 'If Verone sees a helicopter or a customs boat, she's dead!'

'Boat', Brian started, pointing out at the boat, 'Car', he said pointing into the car, 'Boat, car', he said together, before…'your not going to do what I think you're gonna do?'

'Yeah, I think so', I said calmly, 'You got my back?'

'Yeah', he said half-heartedly. 'Yeah!' he repeated, as if reassuring himself.

'All right man, put on the seat belt', I stated quickly reaching round and putting on mine.

'This some real dukes of hazard shit, man', Brian shouted.

'We're gunna do this big!' I shouted, bracing myself, 'Hold on, Brian!'

Brian started yelling in his seat beside me. 'Awe, James your crazy man! What the hell you doing?'

I started yelling myself as we launched off of the ramp and went flying. That didn't last long as we came down with a huge bang, smack in the middle of Verone's boat. Bits were flying everywhere as Brian and I sat in the car, me holding my head groaning and Brian holding his arm.

'I think I broke my arm, man', he stated in pain. That was when I looked up in time to see Verone coming towards the car with his shotgun, cocking it. 'Get the gun man', Brian whispered, knocking his gun over to me as I picked it up. I hesitated slightly, not really up for killing someone, but the look on Brian's face told me otherwise and I threw my arm up, firing it in Verone's general direction, knocking him back just as he shot. I sat there gasping, the pain from my arm seeping up and around my shoulders, Brian beside me, not knowing what to do as I saw Monica pop up, Verone's shot gun in hand.

'You ok?' I shouted out to her as she nodded.

'Yeah!' she replied, 'I'm great'. I relaxed back, dropping the gun as I looked over at Brian.

'We got him, man. We got him. Let's get out of here', he mumbled, sitting back too. I took off my seatbelt and got out as Brian just sat in the empty window space.

Brian and I were back on shore, sitting on a bunch of crates, laughing at each other about the jump. An emergency medical officer was tending to Brian's arm.

'That ought to do it', she smiled before walking off as Markham stepped up to us.

'So, there were three bags total? The three from the boat?' he questioned as I nodded.

'So, we're good right?' Brian asked, 'our records clean?'

'You held up your end', Markham answered, 'you're records are clean'. Brian got up and walked over to the remains of his car, unlocking the trunk, before pulling out the last three bags before dumping them in front of Markham.

'So, maybe there were six bags', Brian said sternly, 'I guess we can call it even'.

'Agent Dunn?' Markham called, shaking Brian's hand as Dunn ran over.

'Sir?' he questioned as Markham shook my hand.

'We've found some more evidence', Markham answered as I looked over at Brian who was looking over at Verone.

'Don't drop the soap, man', Brian shouted out as Verone just smirked.

'I hope you know that when he gets out, he's going to kill your ass', I said simply, smiling at Verone, nodding and smiling.

'He ain't getting out', Brian said, smile faltering.

'I'll see you soon', Verone smiled, as he got up.

'You think he's gonna get out?' Brian asked me, smile completely gone now as I just laughed at him.

'He'll be out'; I smiled before walking off.

'No, for real, you think he's getting out?' Brian asked, following me.

'We took care of your decoys. They're free and clear', Bilkins said, smiling at me as I walked up to him, 'There's a sedan out on the road for you, try to bring it back in one piece'. Brian and I chuckled.

'Thanks a lot, Bilkins', I smiled, shaking his hands, 'You're all right'.

'Thanks'; he smiled.

'Thanks for looking out man'; I smiled.

'So you trust me now?' Monica piped up, nodding to Brian.

'You all right', he smirked. She shook his hand as he groaned.

'Oh, sorry', she smiled before leaning over to me. 'Nice working with you James', she smiled, shaking my hand.

'Same here', I smirked as Bilkins and Fuentes walked off.

'Hm', Brian muttered, 'I might have to stay out here in Miami, and keep you out of trouble'. We both cracked up laughing as I headed for the sedan. 'You know what I'm talking about'.

'You're going to kick it in Miami?' I asked.

'Oh, man, I love Miami. Miami is off the hook', he cheered as I smiled wider.

'Open a garage together?' I offered, as he looked at me funny.

'A garage?' he muttered oddly, 'How we going to do that?'

I looked around before answering. 'Pockets ain't empty, cuz'.

He just laughed at me before lifting his shirt. 'We ain't hungry no more, right?'


End file.
